EDUCATING AGAINST EPIDEMICS

Correctional facilities provide a particularly auspicious location for such (educational ) efforts since they contain a concentration of drug users who are removed from states of drug intoxication and drug seeking behavior and so are likely to benefit from educational efforts. Equally important, lessons learned inside are not forgotten outside, resulting in an increased level of knowledge in the streets after discharge. These "street" drug abusers have so far been a difficult population for AIDS educators to reach and correctional facilities can be a major focal point in targeting them for risk reduction.

Talk about a Stand-And-Deliver dilemma! There are currently 22,000 inmates in L.A. County Jails on any given day. This population has an average stay of only 34 days. Many of these inmates use intravenous drugs or have had multiple unprotected sex partners. They need AIDS education. So, in essence, to educate this population, an army of teachers and counselors would need to see about 650 clients per day, every day. Unfortunately, budget constraints allow for only one case manager. Luckily, that case manager is the multi-talented (and bilingual) Henry Gutierrez. "I met a guy in Central Jail once," Henry mused during a recent interview.

"This guy was very quiet, kind of like he didn't want to get involved with me. In AIDS casework, this kind of shyness is common. I have come to accept it as part of the job, so I was friendly to him, just following my gut feelings. I soon realized that Spanish was his first language. So, first language. So, we started to communicate in Spanish. He was born in Mexico and he had full-blown AIDS. He also had a very debilitating cancer and couldn't walk.

"The majority of our first conversation was about his pain. He had a drug charge and he had been court ordered to attend my classes. I also found out that he was undocumented. If he hadn't been court ordered I wouldn't have been able to send him to the hospital. They would have sent him straight back to Mexico.

"This guy is still at within the system. He hasn't been deported and his job is walking the dog and doing gardening where he's receiving treatment. Because of the courts and the fact that I could communicate with him, he got helped at the University of Southern California medical center. It's nice to know that people can be helped by what I do.

"They are referring to him as the Miracle Man. His T Cells have tripled since going to jail. And, one final irony is that he's not Mexican at all, but Guatemalan.

"He told me that he first thought that I was from Immigration and that he had to tell me he was Mexican so that I wouldn't immediately send him out of the country." Henry is the only AIDS caseworker hired by the Hacienda La Puente USD to work in the L.A. County Jails. There was a time when AIDS Education was "in" and others were hired to join the fight with Henry, but budget cuts and a new apathy on the part of many have contributed to a loss of interest and funding.

Henry works with the men at Twin Towers in the Hospital, Biscaluiz Reception Center, Central Jail in general population. He also does AIDS education with women at the Twin Towers facility.

"It's something that I feel should be mandatory but often I feel like I'm preaching to the saved," says Henry of his daily struggle. "There are up to 120 women in a pod and sometimes I get 40 in a class. I ask if they are or if they know someone who is infected with AIDS. A good portion of them have first hand experience with the disease."

So, how did Henry become the Bilingual AIDS Counselor?

"I went into to teach a class one day," he recalls. "The first six women in my class were monolingual Spanish. So, I started off my first ever completely Spanish AIDS class.

Then, 15 more inmates showed up. They did not speak any Spanish. Now I had a dilemma. I had already made a commitment to the first six that I'd do the class in Spanish. But, I couldn't exclude the majority of the class who spoke only English. It was a mental challenge and an experience. I translated every sentence of the lesson, from one language to the next."

"Often I get classes where each group speaks a little bit of the other's language. That's when I start speaking Spanglish. What we need, of course, is a basic English and a basic Spanish class that also covers the AIDS virus. I've been working for the district for six years. I've applied for other work; that would have led me to the Sheriff's department as a county paid AIDS case manager and coordinator. I didn't get it, but it's a blessing in disguise."

Henry's current supervisor, Assistant Director Doris Meyer, agrees. "There is no one like him," she says. "Not only is he a great, dedicated and caring teacher, but as his wife will attest he's also a wonderful hugger. He gives everyone the warmest hugs because he is so genuine!"

Henry started to be known for his ability to communicate with inmates who could not communicate with others so his legendary status was tested when two teachers sent over a women who gave birth while in custody. She spoke only Spanish, and she was very concerned to find out the HIV status of her new child.

"It means a lot to me to be able to put someone at ease, "said Henry. "There was a lot of denial. My goal is empathy. I knew still another woman who was also HIV positive but, she was also deaf. I had learned a few basic signs. At the onset, she and I were using written notes, then I asked permission to call in some help. Confidentiality being the problem that it is when working with AIDS clients, I was able to obtain permission to put out a call for help. There are 4500 people in that particular jail. I went on the public address system that went throughout the jail and asked if anyone knew how to sign. A custody assistant answered the call. The CA who translated was also very happy, because she felt like she was able to put to use a specialized knowledge that she had." Henry points out that there are other problems with his job, even beyond the basic one of communication. "There are no set standards for follow up. And, I cannot contact inmates after they are discharged. I can only encourage inmates to write. I can call facilities where I refer a client and check up on them, but if they are reclusive then information about them might be confidential from that end."

The rewards of Henry's job sometimes occur in unexpected circumstances. "Once I was in a mall and a large woman ran up to me and threw her arms around me in a big hug. I had never seen her before! Just then, a former client came into view.

It was this woman's daughter that I'd worked with. She had stopped using drugs, had taken care of herself and she was still alive! She must have pointed me out to her mother."

Gordon Rich is the Academic Curriculum Coordinator for the Hacienda La Puente USDCED, in California.