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Just Out • 2 • April I9K8
•
G A Y
February 10, 1988
5:50 pm
M O N T E V E R D E
resources. There are two incoming local lines
and a toll-free statewide line. I move the phones
next to each other on the middle table, then
settle back, feet up, to wait for the calls.
ark is on the phone, elbows on the table,
6:36 pm
forehead cradled in one hand. His voice
is low and steady; he agrees with the caller’s “ Oregon AIDS Hotline.”
comment, then adds, “ When I was in the hospi
What do you do there?’ ’ The voice is male,
tal last month with pneumonia. . . . ” The other
low, a little ragged. I can hear street traffic in
volunteer, Ken, leans back in his chair and
the background. “ I mean, what kind of help do
gives me a tired smile; he puts in four days a
you have?”
week at the Oregon AIDS Hotline. He stretches
I ask him to give me a little more information
and stands up. ready to go home. Mark spends
about the situation he’s in. A guy gave him this
another 15 minutes on the call, then hurries out,
number, he says. He’s been in the hospital with
hoping he hasn't missed his bus.
a liver problem; they tested for AIDS and said
There are 50 volunteers who work on the
he was positive and should call Oregon Health
Hotline. Some arc gay, some are not. Ages vary
Services. But it closes at 4:30, and he doesn’t
from 19 to 50. and lifestyles vary from health want to call from work.
care workers and businesspersons to students.
I run down the list of things we have to offer:
Some of us have had friends, family and lovers
questions answered about AIDS, practical and
die from AIDS. We work on the Hotline
emotional support, referrals, advocacy. He’s
because we want to defuse our own fears, or
got some awful medical bills, he says. And he
because we can use some positive reinforce
doesn’t know what this blood test really means.
ment for our own safe-sex choices, or because
He’d like to talk to a counselor about what he’s
we just want, somehow, to help stop AIDS.
supposed to do next. His sincerity is crushing. I
tell him a little about HIV testing, then give him
6:10 pm
Jack Cox’s number at Cascade AIDS Project
and suggest he try to call during his lunch to
The Hotline office has a high ceiling and two
morrow. If he can’t call then, I suggest, he
tall hare windows on one wall — the old-
should
get back to us tomorrow night. His voice
fashioned kind with ledges and sashes. Tables,
has relaxed a little.
desks, file cabinets and a variety of bookcases
I fill out the tally sheet as we wind up: male,
divide the room into several working areas. I
age 20-30, Multnomah County, 10- to
check the bulletin hoard to see if there are any
20-minute call, anxious; type of contact: un
new updates or important notes. Janet, the
known; topics: testing, transmission, referral.
Hotline coordinator, has left valentines on the
The tallies are used to target different media and
board for each of the volunteers.
educational
campaigns and to determine what
I glance at the notes pinned above the phone
kind of training is needed for volunteers, among
tables to see what needs to be done. Only one:
other
things. But they are not impersonal.
“ Tina. Call after school Be discreet” and a
phone number. I dial, and a young girl answers
7:14 pm
and says “ Tina isn’t home yet. who’s calling?”
I say. “ Just a friend I'll call back later ” The
Mark calls. In his rush to catch the bus. he
guarantee is that all callers can remain anony
forgot to mail some information to a caller.
mous.
Could I do it? The name and address is right
The Hotline is a central clearinghouse for
there on the table. She just wants some general
AIDS information funded by a state grant from
information on women and AIDS. I collect
Oregon State Health Division and using Cascade
three or four items — “ Safer Sex.” “ Care and
AIDS Project's volunteer base and information
Feeding of Dental Dams.” and soon— and put
M
them in an envelope to mail.
The phones are unusually slow tonight, al
though evenings and weekends are generally
quieter than days. AIDS information covers the
desks; the bookcases are full of magazine
articles, newspaper clippings and books; charts
and scraps of data are pinned to the wall. I flip
open the volunteer-information binder and see
the CDC Weekly Surveillance Report, which
charts — by transmission category, sex, race,
geographical location and risk factor — the
cumulative progress of AIDS. Following it are
the Oregon stats. These pages hold a cold fasci
nation for me. The numbers double every year:
53,069 cases of AIDS in the United States as of
February 8, 1988; 300 cases in Oregon, 162
deaths, compared to 1983, when Oregon had 37
cases, 21 deaths. Each number on these charts
stands for a whole human being, a human being
who is either dead or dying. 53,069 and counting.
7:40 pm
I close the binder and pick up Tina’s number
again. Her mother answers this time. When
Tina comes to the phone, her voice sounds
uneasy. I ask if she’d like to talk another time,
but she says, “ No, now’s fine.” She asks some
questions; it sounds like she’s doing a report for
school. She uses the term “ making love.” Most
people will say “ having sex.”
The questions we get from teenagers are
often frank and serious. A boy called last month
on a Saturday afternoon. 17 years old and gay,
he had just had sex for the first time with one of
his male teachers. His parents don’t know he’s
gay. He was close to tears. Could someone that
much older really be attracted to him? What
should he do now? Could he get AIDS? We
talked for almost an hour. Then, I suggested he
call Windfire, a group for gay teens, to get some
on-going counseling or to talk to some other
young gay people. He said he would.
8:20 pm
A few more calls. An IV drug user wants to
know where he can be tested and what the test is
like. A gay man wants to know what constitutes
“ casual contact” versus low-risk— his lover
has high-risk friends. He also has a friend on
AZT and wants to know about its advantages
and side effects.
The types of calls the Hotline gets can’t be
pigeonholed. A heterosexual woman goes to
San Francisco on vacation and has sex with a
man she meets there; she is afraid now, wants to
know what her chances are of having gotten