World AIDS Day Symposium Offers Hope And Advice

Chris Howell NewsOn6.com

TULSA---For World Aids Day Tulsa CARES offered a free symposium entitled ‘Together We Live' at the Central Community Center. With workshops on HIV prevention as well as nutrition and medication management, HIV specialists and experts were on hand to advise and enlighten those living with the disease.

‘Aids is still a huge problem in our community as well as across the globe,' said Sharon Thoele, Executive Director for Tulsa CARES, a United Way Member Agency that delivers services to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS, ‘the purpose of today was to bring people together in a safe environment where we can talk about the issues surrounding this disease.'

Sharon is heartened by progress made in medical management of the disease which once was a death sentence, but she is still alarmed by the numbers of people who still contract the illness for which there is no cure.

‘Last year the CDC came out and said we've made a terrible mistake,' she said, ‘instead of 40,000 new infections a year in the United States,  we really have 60,000 new infections that we're aware of.'

Thoele advises everyone to be tested at facilities like Hope Testing Clinic to be aware of their HIV/AIDS status, and for those with the disease to get into medical programs as soon as possible.

If you need information on HIV/AIDS, please contact Tulsa CARES at their web site.

Tulsa CARES is located at 3507 E Admiral Place in Tulsa

Phone (918) 834-4194