Louisiana: Caldwell Parish Woman Forms Group to Battle HIV/AIDS

Monica Johnson became infected with HIV after a blood transfusion in the mid-1980s. Yet she claims she has not been living with the virus for the past 20 years: "HIV has been living with me. I'm in control," Johnson said.

Shunned by many in the small community of Columbia where traditions stand strong, Johnson formed Helping Everyone Receive Ongoing Effective Support, a nonprofit organization that provides education and support for people living with HIV and those at risk of becoming infected. Five staff members and 25 regular volunteers help to run HEROES' several programs:

• The Mind, Body and Soul University is a treatment education and empowerment program for people at risk, which is "anybody who has sex," according to Johnson.
• Specifically targeting women, the Rural Education About Community Health program encourages women to nurture their physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health.
• Teens In Motivational Education is a teen pregnancy prevention program that seeks to provide teens with accurate information about sex. "They don't get it from parents," she said. "We keep it real. We don't do abstinence only, we talk about STDs, safer sex, condoms."

The slow economy has made fewer grants available for nonprofits like HEROES in recent years, leading Johnson and staff to launch a major fund-raising initiative with the goal of keeping current programs in place -- even if on a scaled-down basis.

When Johnson founded the organization, the clients were women who met to discuss the variety of issues that affected them. The group now includes men and women, gay and straight. "It [HIV/AIDS] is still a taboo subject. Everybody doesn't want to talk about it. The organization has gotten more support, a little more than it did in the beginning," observed Johnson.

Back to other news for November 14, 2003