School Talk

[Marshall]

Hi there

Have been asked by consultant nurse to go with her to local schools, here in Netherlands, to speak about HIV/AIDS! The Netherlands has seen a shocking increase in young people having unprotectected sex! My job involves training people, not teenagers, with hormones all over the place! HELP how do I go about it!

Marshall

[carbonNYC]

Never underestimate shock value, would be my advice.

All the STD talks I remember from my teens were the ones that were really graphic -- like showing sores and such from various infections. As someone who's HIV+ (and saw the San Francisco public campaign to this same effect) it's a troublesome approach, but it does make them remember. And, presumably, leads to behavioral change.

-David

[TLC]

Hello,
 My mother and step father both were lost to AIDS. My mom went around to schools and I went with her. She would tell her story and I would tell the students how HIV/AIDS affected me. I have lots of ideas for you. If you are interested in any of them I would be glad to help out. You can contact me here or through email: zlingren@hotmail.com

[Salteen]

I am actually looking into doing that, I have had the disease my whole and I am almost 23.  I would approach it possibly from just telling them that their life choices really do matter.  Then maybe go into some of your biography  ect.   

[J.R.E.]

This article is probably not all that helpful, but may give you some thoughts :

From the St. petersburg Times :

Teens learn some unsexy truths
[STATE Edition]
 
 
 
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla. 
Author: AMY SCHERZER
Date: Dec 1, 2006
Start Page: 3
Text Word Count: 773
 
 
 
 Document Text
 
 
 
Copyright Times Publishing Co. Dec 1, 2006
Lloyd Zimet was 20 years younger and working as a health psychologist in San Francisco when his patients started showing up with a disease that had no name.

"My clients began to exhibit symptoms I didn't understand," he said. "It was a devastating disease, not even called AIDS yet, and unknown outside the gay community."

Today, on World AIDS Day, more than 40-million people around the world are living with HIV and AIDS. Zimet is trying to keep Hillsborough County teens from adding to that number.

Five years ago, all that Tampa students heard about the disease was one lecture by a nurse in 11th and 12th grades, Zimet said. Even students said the information came too late, especially in Hillsborough, which ranks third in the state for its number of AIDS cases and fourth for teen pregnancies.

These days, Zimet administers a federal grant to educate teens about HIV/AIDS and pregnancy prevention everywhere he can: middle and high schools, career centers, and alternative education and detention sites.

Students learn about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases starting in ninth grade and in different classes and contexts, from biology and health classes to social studies.

For example, the school district is co-sponsoring an essay contest for juniors and seniors taking American history and economics, asking them to write about why they should care about HIV and AIDS. Today, he expects students in Red Cross clubs to talk about the disease.

"Students need to look at historical and economical perspectives," said Zimet, 55.

Such discussions are needed, he said, because AIDS is different.

"AIDS is unique as a disease for not being viewed strictly as a public health issue," he said. "People tend to ignore facts and use it as a tool to judge and stigmatize, to moralize and blame the victim."

The political aspect stifled him at the AIDS Center of Queens County, N.Y., where Zimet directed AIDS prevention in the late 1980s. He quit to work as a private consultant in New York and Denmark, his home for more than a decade.

Two years ago, he moved to Northwest Tampa when his wife, Jeanne, was recruited to teach math in Pinellas County. His part-time job as a Hillsborough middle school specialist in teen pregnancy prevention expanded. He now works full time training the district's teachers in the Centers for Disease Control's HIV prevention program, a model for teaching students about HIV.

He works out of the Velasco Student Services Center in Ybor City. Under district policy, students are taught that abstinence is the only way to be disease free. But Zimet has expanded lesson plans to tell them more, from coaching students on how to say "no" to cautioning them about the dynamics of dating someone older.

Because of health privacy rights, there's no way to know which students might have AIDS or HIV.

"Unless a student requests assistance with medication, we don't know who they are," he said.

But then, the students may not know either. Zimet pointed out that two-thirds of new infections are spread by people unaware that they carry the virus.

Zimet is a walking textbook. He rattles off other statistics that disturb him: Nearly half of high school students are sexually active, with 15 percent of them reporting four or more sexual partners. Hillsborough County students reported 476 pregnancies during the 2005-06 school year. Last year, 1,200 teens in the county reported STDs.

"Lloyd's very persistent," said Sandra Gallogly, supervisor of school health services. "He wants to find ways to keep children optimally healthy."

She also admires his well-rounded knowledge base.

"You can ask him a question about anything from raising dogs to HIV, and he'll give you the answer."

Information is the key, Zimet says: "The only weapon we have against HIV is education. The better educated we are, the better decisions we learn to make."

 
Ray

[J.R.E.]

Marshall,

Heres another article that may give you some additional info :

http://www.avert.org/school.htm


http://www.avert.org/aidsyoun.htm



Ray

[Johnny Guaylupo]

IMPORTANT ISSUE THAT WE ARE FACING AND I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE STILL GETTING INFECTED IT Gets ME ANGRY AND UPSET BECAUSE SEX ED ISN'T TAUGHT THE WAY IT SHOULD IN SCHOOL!

[goodpoz]

Hi Marshall,
I have been speaking in schools for over 5 years now . I started shortly after I found out that I was HIV+. I live in Oregon (USA) where we are very fortunate to have a program called " Speakers In The Schools ".
We basically do a HIV 101 and include our story about how we live with HIV , what we did before and how its changed our lives.There are so many people out there that still don't get it and think that HIV/AIDS is not a problem anymore . Granted we have come a long way in the treatment of the disease and stories of people living  ( with HIV) are becoming more the norm but there is still allot more work for us to do.
If you have to chance to educate and share your knowledge from a person that is living with HI V's point of view jump at the oppertunity . You will have no idea how rewarding it will be to know that you can make a difference.
Good luck to you and remember you are not alone !!!!
Take care and happy new year ,
Bob