AIDS Team Hits Streets Offering Condoms, HIV Tests, Counseling

Loading their oversized van with bleach, multicolored condoms and pamphlets about HIV, Ventura County health workers Emma Dawson and Robin Kirsch roamed the streets of Ventura on Wednesday, seeking out intravenous drug users at risk of getting AIDS.

Dawson and Kirsch are part of the county’s 4-month-old AIDS Outreach Intervention Team, a $1-million federally funded effort to find, test and counsel people who may be passing the virus through infected needles.

For the first year of the three-year effort, the countywide program is focusing on Ventura and Oxnard, sending a two-member team and a van to each city daily to scour high-risk areas, hoping to build a rapport with “hypers”--drug addicts who use hypodermic needles and avoid traditional drug treatment programs.

The teams have coaxed 125 people into the vans, which are specially outfitted with private compartments for HIV testing and counseling. So far, one person has tested HIV positive and is now receiving treatment through the county.

“A lot of times you start walking toward people and they just walk away,” Kirsch said. “It’s tricky because you can’t just say, ‘Hi, how many sex partners do you have? Any needles in your arms?’ ”

Intravenous drug users account for about a fourth of the 368 county residents infected with acquired immune deficiency syndrome since officials started keeping track in 1982. The rest contracted AIDS through sexual contact or blood transfusions.

Although physicians are not required to report HIV-positive test results, health officials estimate that 1,000 to 3,000 Ventura County residents are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. A growing number of those infected with the virus are drug users who contract the disease by sharing needles, program director Lynne Evans-Riester said.

“It’s becoming more and more urgent to reach these people, but we’re working with a population that is suspicious and resistant to this kind of work,” Evans-Riester said.

But Dawson and Kirsch are worried that the bond they are struggling to develop takes low priority in the lives of some drug users.

On Wednesday afternoon, the pair parked their van and walked past a string of motels on Thompson Street. Kirsch waved to a pregnant woman who was coming out of one of the motels. The woman quickly turned away and got into a car waiting nearby.

“Usually she would come running to us, asking for condoms and bleach,” Kirsch said, shaking his head. “You can see she wasn’t too thrilled about seeing us today.”

The woman, Dawson said, is a heroin addict who supports her habit by working as a prostitute.

“She is a high-risk person and maybe she isn’t someone we’re going to be able to affect,” Dawson said. “But it is still important to get the word out and let people know the risks they are taking.”

Dawson and Kirsch then headed for Ventura Avenue. Dressed in shorts and T-shirts, and carrying fanny packs stuffed with condoms and bleach, the pair made their way down a block lined with liquor stores and empty lots.

Dawson approached a man who was walking by. “Hi, can I tell you about our program?” she asked. The man grunted and barely slowed down, but Dawson kept pace, quickly explaining the services offered and handing him condoms.

Then, across the street, Dawson and Kirsch spotted two men sitting on a porch. Instead of crossing directly toward the men, the pair walked down the street a bit farther. “We don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable,” Dawson explained. “We try to be as unobtrusive as possible.”

The men greeted Dawson and Kirsch warmly. They chatted and laughed as they accepted the condoms. “I’ll take them, but I never use them,” one man said.

“Well, it’s important for you to use them,” Dawson said sternly. “You should start now.”

Block after block, Dawson and Kirsch approached passersby, urging them to practice safe sex, handing out condoms and promising to return to do HIV testing. Kirsch is training to do the blood-drawing necessary for an HIV test. In the meantime, the team makes do with one part-time phlebotomist, who takes blood samples and splits her time between the Oxnard and Ventura vans.

“At face value it may not seem like we’re having an effect,” Dawson said. “But just seeing us and hearing what we have to say can serve as an impetus.”

Edie Brown, executive director of AIDS Care, agreed. The nonprofit Ventura agency provides support groups, housing and networking for people with AIDS and HIV.

“Anything they can do to help people before they end up here is welcome,” Brown said. “By the time drug users end up here, with HIV and a shortened life span, there isn’t a whole lot of incentive for them to clean up their act.”