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Timeline of Events in the History of Houston's Response to HIV/AIDS 1981 - 2015

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Timeline of Events in the History of Houston's Response to HIV/AIDS 1981 - 2015 Timeline of Events in the History of Houston's Response to HIV/AIDS 1981 - 2015 1978 - While working on a medical project 1978 - The Montrose Clinic (now known as in Haiti, Dr. Didier Piot, notices unusual Legacy Community Health Services) is symptoms among some of his patients. established as a grassroots organization to test gay men for sexually transmitted Shortly thereafter, Dr. Piot sets up a practice infections. in Houston, Texas and is startled when a young bodybuilder comes to see him with Founded in 1978 and granted 501(c)(3) similar symptoms and dies two weeks later. status in 1980, The Montrose Counseling Center (currently known as the Montrose After several more of his gay patients pass Center) is established to provide mental away, Dr. Piot reaches out to colleagues, but health services to the LGBT community and is generally ignored and considered to be will later become a critical source of support paranoid. for people with AIDS. 1981 -1985 1981 - The first Houstonian is diagnosed 1982 - The CDC introduces the term AIDS, with GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency an acronym for "acquired immune deficiency disease, now known as AIDS). In 1981, syndrome." there are 8 GRID/AIDS diagnoses in the Houston area with only two individuals Geo. H. Lewis & Sons is the only funeral surviving through the end of the year. Data home in Houston willing to embalm people is sketchy, but it appears as if all but one who die of AIDS. individual diagnosed that year are MSM Fabian Bridges, a man described by (men who have sex with men), and most are authorities in Cleveland and Houston as a white and over the age of 20. prostitute, by his own admission, has unsafe 1982 - The Montrose Voice publishes a sex without telling his partners of his illness. special supplement titled "Sexually His case makes national news and is used Transmitted Diseases," which focuses on as "a working strategy session on what to do Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). It reports that M.D. about AIDS" on PBS's Frontline. Anderson has 53 documented cases of men Local hospitals require visitors and staff to with suppressed immune systems and four wear protective gear when visiting AIDS cases of KS. Many AIDS patients are sent to M.D. Anderson because they present with patients. Local activist Ray Hill asks Kaposi's sarcoma. Kaposi's sarcoma is a physicians to contact him when a patient is cancer that causes patches of abnormal near death. When called, Ray goes to the tissue to grow under the skin, in the lining of ward without protective clothing and sits with the mouth, nose, and throat or in other the patient, often holding the person when organs. The patches are usually red or asked, until they pass away. purple and are made of cancer cells and blood cells. In AIDS patients, the disease 1984 - Jennifer Lyne passes away and is moves quickly. later identified as the first known child in Houston foster care to die of AIDS. Timeline of Events in the History of Houston's Response to HIV/AIDS 1981- 2015 Page 1 of 8 1984 - Catholic Sister Kathleen Foster Board members of the Montrose Clinic and establishes Casa de Esperanza de los Ninos Montrose Counseling Center establish the - House of Hope for Children, a residential KS Foundation, now known as AIDS care facility for children, including those with Foundation Houston, to provide support AIDS, or those whose parents are impacted services to people with HIV/AIDS such as by AIDS and cannot provide care for their Stone Soup, a food pantry and McAdory child(ren). House*, a residential facility. One of the Executive Directors was quoted as saying 1983 - A group of gay men and women, that until the late 1980's, 80% of the under the auspices of EPAH (Executive agency's budget came from passing a hat at Professional Association of Houston), local gay bars. It is rumored that staff raided organize Flashdance, one of the first AIDS the soda machine on at least one occasion fundraisers. to help make payroll. The Foundation hires 1985 - The ELISA blood test becomes one case manager to provide case available to see if a person's body is management services to over 600 clients. producing antibodies to combat Human Today, a case manager typically manages a Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that case load of 150 clients. causes AIDS. Until the test becomes It is not uncommon for an individual to available to the public, some gay men quickly become sick, lose their employment, donate to blood donation centers so that they become evicted from their home and lose all are tested. personal possessions, frequently while in the local lGBT organizations warn that gay men hospital. Some say that AIDS causes should not donate blood and should not incarceration because AIDS causes poverty participate in testing that will leave a paper which results in a number of individuals trail. writing "hot checks". Hence, in 1988 COLT 45's AIDS Trouble Fund is established by a More and more gay men are becoming group of gay men to help individuals pay for isolated because of the disfiguring purple rent, utilities and more. spots on their face and body caused by Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). Bartender Mac Gay men's social events, organized by McAdory, starts a support group for people groups like Miss Camp America, The Diana with KS at Mary's Bar. Foundation and others, file for IRS 501 (c)(3) status so that their parties can raise critical Montrose Clinic develops a testing strategy funds for local organizations. that protects identity and offers a Program This Week in Texas, a gay magazine for AIDS Counseling & Evaluation (PACE), published in Houston, begins to dedicate which includes a patient history, physical, multiple pages every week to AI DS-related testing, and referral. obituaries. Houston is the only major city that does not local Houston activists produce the first in close its bathhouses. Instead, the the nation Safe Sex Guide. bathhouses are used as AIDS education distribution points. A number of bathhouses Omega House, an AIDS hospice, is sponsor visits by porn stars and pair their established with startup assistance from visits with safe sex presentations. Christ Church Cathedral and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. Because the hospice has The first Houston AIDS Resource "Directory" only three beds, many clients pass away begins as a single piece of paper that is either at Jeff Davis Hospital, in their own handwritten and later typed and reproduced homes or in the home of a friend or a kind on a mimeograph machine. Distributed stranger, often alone and sometimes on the among friends caring for people with AIDS. street. Timeline of Events in the History of Houston's Response to HIV/AIDS 1981- 2015 Page 2 of 8 1981 - 1985 ...continued Eventually, when Houston receives federal against gay and lesbian individuals in their funding for case management services, hiring practices. The referendum is soundly distrust among agencies is so high that defeated and gay and lesbian leaders begin instead of placing case managers in one to feel that key political leaders are organization, Houston designs a "decen- distancing themselves from the gay tralized system" that placed case managers community. This begins a long period of in agencies throughout the geographic area. distrust and finger pointing among local politicians, gay and lesbian leaders and AIDS Interfaith Council* (now known as social service providers. Mainstream service Interfaith Care Partners) is founded and providers become nervous about working quickly becomes the largest religious with AIDS Service Organizations, like the response to AIDS in the country providing Montrose Clinic and AIDS FoLindation, for Care Team support with volunteers recruited fear of losing their creditability with political from over 120 churches and synagogues. leaders. Even gay grass roots organizations Annually, Care Teams provide in-home do not trust each other for fear of being assistance to between 400 and 600 dragged into the political quagmire. individuals. It is not uncommon for half of the clients to pass away during a 12 month The County Judge and the Mayor jointly period. appoint at least 4 different task forces to study the problem of AIDS. The task forces 1985 - Movie super star Rock Hudson dies end with few recommendations and no of AIDS. Montrose Clinic is inundated with action. In Texas, City government is testing requests, and begins processing 600 responsible for disease prevention and to 700 tests a month. surveillance and County government is Mayor of Houston, Kathy Whitmire, responsible for providing care once a person reluctantly agrees to support a referendum becomes ill (Le. Harris County Hospital that prohibits the City from discriminating District) 1986 -1990 1986 - The Bering Spiritual Support Network Weatherford, and Lynn Billings Etheridge (BSN) is established by Bering United start a local chapter of the Design Industries Methodist Church and continues to this day Foundation for AIDS (DIFFA). Local to be one of the longest-running HIV/AIDS foundations and corporations feel more at support groups in the country. ease channeling donations to AIDS 1986 - Houston's "first lady of philanthropy" organizations through DIFFA. From 1987 to Carolyn Farb organizes "An Evening of 1996, DIFFA raises over $2.7 million and Hope", the first mainstream fundraiser which becomes the largest source of private funds raises $100,000 for the Bering Foundation, for local AIDS organizations. another organization founded by Bering 1987 - AMI, a privately owned hospital United Methodist Church to provide dental corporation opens the Institute for care* and adult daycare to people living with Immunology*, the first hospital in the country AIDS.
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