October 26, 2011
Mississippi
Alberta
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East County
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Women at Risk for HIV
Local healer works to empower those 50-and-older
by M indy C< x ) per
T he P ortland O bserver
hile in m assage school in the late-
1980s in Boulder, Colo., Jacki Gethner,
a Portland m assage therapist and
practitioner o f the healing arts, rem em bers w hen
she re c e iv e d the p h o n e c all th a t h e r g irlfrie n d
h a d c o n tra c te d H IV a fte r a re la p se in s u b
stan c e ab u se.
A t th e tim e , sh e s a id , H IV w a s a fa irly
n e w d e a l.
“W e only knew it surrounding gay m en,”
she said. “A nd there w eren ’t m any w om en at
that tim e w ho had been diagnosed.”
S he said th e re w as such a stig m a s u r
ro u n d in g the d ise a se th a t so cie ty fe a red b e
ing a ro u n d th o se w h o had b een d ia g n o se d ,
an d m ore th an o fte n , th ey w ere g re e te d w ith
m ask s an d g lo v e s. “ P eo p le w e re n ’t c o n s id
e re d to u c h a b le ,” she said.
T he sam e year she began school, how ever,
B oulder hosted the A ID S M edicine and M iracle
conference, w hich w as the first holistic and
w estern m edicine A ID S conference w ithin the
U nited States.
A t the event, G ethner and a friend, w ithout
know ing w hat the response w ould be, decided
to set up a m assage area in the building. “W e
provided m assage chairs, and m assaged over
300 people in four d ay s,” she said.
“It w as very pow erful. Som e o f them h a d n ’t
been touched in m onths.”
A fter realizing, first-hand, the healing im pact
m ere touch can have in the healing process,
G ethner returned as an integral com ponent o f
photo by M indy C ooper ZT he P ortland O bserver
the conference each year, and becam e d eter
Portland resident Jacki Gethner, the founder of the Women of a Certain Age
m ined to share her skills through com m unity
program, which is aimed to help reduce the growing number of older
outreach and healing and support w orkshops.
women contracting HIV and AIDS, has worked with over 15,000 individuals
She began w orking w ith the support co m m u
from all walks of life through education, activism and her healing arts
nities o f those living w ith the disease. “M any
practice Regenerative Therapies.
p e o p le w ho h ad c o n tra c te d H IV w ere a b a n
d o n e d by th e ir b io lo g ic a l fa m ilie s ,” she said.
“ So th ese peo p le, th e ir ‘fam ilies o f c h o ic e ,’ all
w a n ted to kn o w w h at th ey c o u ld do to h elp
th e ir lo v e d o n e s .”
“ S k in is th e la rg e st o rg a n o f y o u r b o d y ,”
she said . “ It o n ly m a k es sen se to te ac h them
how to to u c h .”
T oday, G eth n er has w orked w ith over 15,000
individuals from all walks o f life, both locally and
w orld-w ide, through education, h er know ledge
o f reflexology, and at h er practice R egenerative
T herapies located in northeast Portland.
H er current m ission, how ever, has been to
educate the com m unity on HIV prevention,
especially for w om en 50-years and older, w ho
currently represent the fastest grow ing d em o
graphic o f people diagnosed with HIV and AIDS
throughout the country.
In an effort to support w om en w ho are in
fected or im pacted by H IV /A ID S , G eth n er c re
ated the W om en o f a C ertain A ge Program in
2006, to support older w om en, w ho she said are
severely underserved w ithin the com m unity.
The non-profit program w as m ade possible
after she received the K eiser P erm anente N a
tional D iversity A w ard for her w ork in HI V and
A ID S. A lthough there w as a n um ber o f w ays
she could have used the funds she received,
G ethner said she decided to focus on the age
group in w hich she lives.
“I ’ve never m et anybody w ho does w hat I
d o ,” she said. “ I used to w ork w ith youth, but as
I got older, I kept hearing o f older people becom
ing infected because o f a lack o f inform ation
about th eir risks.”
W om en, she said, often have a difficult time
continued
on page 17
Margaret Carter Building Dedicated at PCC
Tireless advocate
embraced by
family, friends
and colleagues
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
I t’s not every day that a college
gets to name a building after a local
hero.
As Portland Community College cel
ebrated its 50th anniversary, hundreds
of supporters arrived at the PCC Cas
cade Campus on Friday afternoon to
honor the 75-year-old former Sen.
Margaret Carter for a dedication cer
emony in her name.
Stand up applauses echoed through
out the auditorium as Dr. A lgie
Gatewood, president of north Port-
continued
on page 22
C ari H achmann /
T he P ortland O bserver
photo by
Portland Community College Presi
dent Preston Pulliams joins Margaret
Carter during ceremonies to rename
the Technical Education Building on
the PCC Cascade Campus in north
Portland to the Margaret Carter
Technology Education Building.