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About What's happening. (Eugene, OR) 1982-1993 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1987)
■PUBLIC INTEREST Carper House: AIDS hospice proposed by Sonja Ungemach Several months ago, the local com munity was moved by the candor and courage of a young couple, Richard and Debbie Carper. The Carpers had both been diagnosed with ARC, AIDS-Related Complex. Both bad been IV drug users and probably con tracted the disease that way. In spite of the social stigma attached to AIDS and ARC, not to mention TV drug use, the Carpers chose to share their story with thousands of people through a local television news interview, and then in a story in the Register-Guard. The consequences were immediate; Debbie lost her job following the TV interview. But Debbie and Richard continued to speak out—in hope that their story would help others avoid a fate similar to theirs. Weeks after the local coverage, they faced a national audience on the Phil Donahue Show, and again on a San Francisco tele vision program on the risk of AIDS to heterosexuals. Now they are spearheading a local effort to provide support and shelter for AIDS or ARC patients who have no place to live. Carper House is a newly formed non-profit corporation which is seeking to raise funds to pur chase a house where homeless per sons with AIDS or ARC can find the emotional and social support they need while they cope with their disease. Richard and Debbie are two of the eight directors of the new corporation. The others are: Dr. John Wilson, a leading authority on AIDS; Dr. Mark Heerema, infectious disease special ist; UO professor Robert Kime, Ph.D.; Shanti representative Marsh Brownfield; Methadone Clinic Direc tor Mike Connelly; and Lynda Eaton of Health and Human Services. Besides emotional support, Carper House hopes to provide nutritional meals, health monitoring, personal care assistance, counseling, therapeu tic activities programs and spiritual care. According to Richard Carper, homelessness is a big problem for AIDS and ARC patients who can no longer earn a living or take care of a house for themselves. He says he and Debbie are virtually unemployable since going public, yet as ARC rather than AIDS patients they do not qualify for public disability payments. There are many in the Eugene area in a similar situation. "We could fill it immediately if we had the house," says Richard. The cost of care is also a problem which Carper House hopes to ad dress. The average cost of AIDS care in hospitals is $145,000 per person. The Carper House hopes to reduce that to $35,000 per person by pro viding a hospice facility. “Most peo ple at Carper House will sign living wills, as I have. I don't want to be hos pitalized. I want to die in my own home. Debbie and I are now seeking a place where we feel comfortable to die. We will probably die at Carper House.” Richard and Debbie's own health continues to be a problem. Richard’s condition has recently been rediag nosed as more serious, entitling him to some disability payments. For Deb bie, the hardest part is the emotional trauma, the loss of privacy. Yet, in spite of these considerations, the Carpers are still reaching out to others. They’re working to establish a drug addict outreach project, and they’re talking to drug treatment centers about the risk to drug users. Their upcoming presentation at Stump Ranch (a local drug treatment facility) will be filmed by the TV pro gram 20/20. Richard says there are now 14 full blown cases of AIDS in Eugene, about 140 cases of ARC, and perhaps as many as 1400 people infected with the AIDS virus. It is a local problem needing local support. The first benefit for Carper House is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, October 10 and 11, from K) am to 5 pm. It’s a car wash at Valley River Chevron, across from Valley River Center, next to Good Guys Stereo. Carper House is also accepting donations of money, goods and volun teer time. Call 342-4990 or send donations to 1085 West 6th, Eugene, OR 97402. Of course the best donation would be a house. If you know of a suitable one, or have one to donate, call the above number. ■LETTERS AIDS: Deadly, Not Incurable [Columnist Carolyn Reuben responds to Michael MacRae’s letter published in last week’s What's Happening (Oct. 1,1987).J Dear Michael. Watching someone we love die and not knowing how to save him is one of the deepest torments of our mortal life. Some people die no matter what is done for them or what they do for themselves. However, AIDS is not an incurable disease, no matter how many news broad casters and irresponsible journalists say it is. The human body's immune system has within it everything it needs to fight and protect us from harm, even from the AIDS virus, a fact discovered by reputable scien tists this past year. However, impediments must be re moved so the immune system can do its job. Toxic drugs do not a strong body make. Food makes the body strong. Thoughts make the body strong. Exercise makes the body strong. This is not fiction, but measurable fact. For proof, read Stephanie Matthews-Simonton and co authors’ Getting Well Again (Bantam, 1978, $3.95), which documents one of the first programs to involve cancer patients in ac tively creating a well body with their mind, along with medical treatment, or Bernie Siegel, M.D.'s Love, Medicine and Mira cles (Harper & Row, 1986, $15.95) which is a more recent documentation of a sur geon's success using his patients' minds, via imagery, to destroy their cancer rather than his scalpel. There’s Louise Hay. who cured herself of vaginal cancer and whose tapes and books (especially ibu Can Heal Your Life, Hay House, $10), and weekly programs in Los Angeles inspire people with AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. The men described in Laurence Badgley, M.D.'s book Healing AIDS Naturally (Human Energy Press, 1986, $14.95) and in Scott Gregory and Bianca Leonardo's book Conquering AIDS NOW! (Tree of Life, 1986, $15.95) are not fiction. They are alive. I absolutely support you in demanding accurate information about methods that help bodies heal. In Los Angeles, there is an entire bookstore devoted to books on Alternative Therapies and Nutrition, with an emphasis on cancer, but applicable to other nutrtionally-related diseases. They maintain a 24 hour hot-line for informa tion on such therapies. For $2, the store will send a doctor directory, patient direc tory (those willing to describe their treat ment), cancer bookhouse list and other in formation: Cancer Control Society, 2043 N. Berendo, Los Angeles, CA 90027,213/ 663-7801. Laurence Badgley told me only a small minority of the people with AIDS he has seen are willing to make the major changes in their life needed to nurture their immune system back to health. Certainly not every one who adopts a healthy lifestyle will eliminate the disease. But, there IS hope for people with AIDS, because there is much they can do for themselves, instead of waiting for a pill or an injection to save them. I am sorry you lost your friend. I am sorry so many beloved people have died, and are dying, and will die due to this disease . . . (but] to continue to call AIDS incurable is, in my opinion, mal practice on the part of the medical com munity and gross public injustice, with devastating medical consequences, on the part of journalists. While researching an article on alterna tive therapies for AIDS published in the September, 1986 issue of East IWst Jour nal, I discovered an underground popu lation of AIDS survivors, unwilling to go public for fear of being crushed by the power of negativity toward the very idea of surviving the disease. Words kill, and words cure. There is an entire field of medicine called psychoneuroimmunology, which studies the inextricable connection between mind and body. Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. of the Harvard Medical School, describes her work in this field in Minding the Body, Mending the Mind (Addison Wesley, 1987, $14.95). Let’s all choose our words carefully; a disease can be deadly, without being incur able. If you want to see survivors with your own eyes, send me 54 cents postage and I’ll send you a copy of the East West arti cle. . . The answer to healing is to give the body what it needs to do the healing. And, although the peach pie wasn’t meant to be a magic bullet, it can represent the fact that natural food, essential for healing, is tas ty food, and can be enjoyed by the ill and the worried well alike. —Carolyn Reuben No Celebration Schedule At your suggestion, I am writing this let ter to voice my opinion about the omis sion of the Celebration schedule. It was very disappointing! Not only did I resent having to pay for it, I also resented hav ing to do it via R-G, which I do not care to support. To top it off, the schedule it self was nowhere near the quality and con tent I always appreciated from What’s Happening—in feet, it was, simply, bor ing. You certainly have my vote arid plea to get it back where it belongs. —K.S. LEGAL AND MEDIATION SERVICES Larry Deckman —Attorney At Law— 484-3782 Reasonable Rates Salvadoran Mireya Lucero: , Life in a War Zone by Scott Harding The war in El Salvador is coming to Eugene. Mireya Lucero, a women’s peasant organizer from the conflictive areas in Chalatenango, will offer local residents a first-hand account of life under war in El Salvador. As part of a 40-city, four month national tour, Mireya will appear at several events in Eugene. A benefit brunch with community leaders Sunday, October 11 will feature Mireya as guest speaker. The public is invited; the event will be held from 12 to 3 pm at First Chris tian Church (1166 Oak). An informal housemeeting with Mireya for members of the women’s community is scheduled for 7:30 pm that even ing at the First Congregational Church (1050 E. 23rd Ave.). She will also be a guest on the radio news pro gram “Blue Plate Special,” Friday, October 9, at 12 pm. Mireya's visit will highlight the role of women in organizing for peace and justice in rural El Salvador. Largely ignored by the mainstream media. El Salvador has suffered nearly eight years of war at great cost: 70,000 dead, more than 10,000 disappeared and one million displaced persons. Rural areas and civilians have borne much of the burden of the war dur ing numerous indiscriminate bomb ings and ground invasions by the Salvadoran military. Many communi ties have been destroyed or forcibly relocated, displacing thousands of peasants as a result. Yet thousands of refugees have sought to reclaim their homes and communities through “re-population” efforts. Mireya represents such a com munity, the re-populated village of Mireya Lucero Arcatao, and will testify to the suc cess of such popular movements. Although only 25, Mireya has a long history of organizing for social justice. While her native province of Chalatenango has been especially devastated by the effects of war and economic deprivation, Mireya has worked to improve the quality of education and working conditions of families in her community. She has also founded projects to provide health care, literacy programs and make child care available to rural areas. For more information contact CISCAP at 485-1755. MICHAEL WILLIAMS Now listing 8 sell ing real property • Residential • Lots & Acres Bus. 484-9815 A mb— or THE MAM PINANCL WETWOR COLDWCLL BANKORO CURDS IRVING REALTY, ING 1142 WILLAGILLESPIE RD. 47 Res. 484-0024 KEYSTONE CAFE —Good Home Cookin’— —WEEKEND— DINNER SPECIAL 1 V-FRI., SAT., SUN. 5:30-9:00 Fish Chowder Tossed Green Salad, Homemade Cornbread W. 5th at Lawrence 7 am-9 pm WHAT'S HAPPENING Weekly News, Arts, Entertainment Published Every Thursday Publishers: Elisabeth Lyman, Lucia McKelvey, Sonja Ungemach Editors: Lucia McKelvey, Sonja Ungemach, Elisabeth Lyman Advertising Manager: Elisabeth Lyman Production Manager: Sonja Ungemach Office Manager/Production: Sheri Longobardo Assistant Editor: Deborah McGee Account Representatives: Susan Brokaw, Kate Carnhart, Garde Wells Cover Design: Melanie Pratt Contributing Writers: Deborah McGee, )im Stiak, Lois Wadsworth, Garde Wells Distribution: Daybreak News Co. Typesetting: ProtoType. Camera Work: Graphics Unlimited. Printing: Springfield News. 335 West 20th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97405. (503) 484-0519 _© Copyright 1987 What’s Happening, Inc. All rights reserved.
