Twenty-Nine Years of Women Living With HIV: Past, Present and Future

1985. Actress Elizabeth Taylor and Dr. Mathilde Krim co-found amfAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research). Elizabeth Taylor hosts the first Hollywood AIDS fundraiser. San Francisco AIDS Foundation produces their first brochure about women and AIDS. Singers Bette Midler and Barbara Streisand appear in a sold out fundraiser for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Mother Teresa visits AIDS patients at George Washington University after receiving the Medal of Freedom from President Reagan. A reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle publishes a front-page story about Silvana Strangis, a prostitute living with AIDS.

For the first time, a woman is admitted to the AIDS ward at San Francisco General (Ward 5B). Frances Borchelt, an older adult from San Francisco, dies from AIDS after she received three pints of infected blood during surgery in 1983. Her family files a negligence lawsuit against Irwin Memorial Blood Bank.