Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!usc!ucla-cs!Rob.Bates@p1.f381.n634.z3.fidonet.org From: Rob.Bates@p1.f381.n634.z3.fidonet.org (Rob Bates) Newsgroups: sci.med.aids Subject: Australian AIDS News Message-ID: <29816@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> Date: 7 Dec 89 08:07:22 GMT Sender: news@CS.UCLA.EDU Organization: FidoNet node 3:634/381.1 - Big Tedd's BBS, Armadale Victoria Lines: 105 Approved: aids@cs.ucla.edu Archive-number: 1543 MEDIA COMMENT - SUZI'S OTHER STORY By Colin W. Blum [Reproduced with permission from Melbourne Star Observer #110, Friday 1 December 1989, (C) 1989 Melbourne Star Observer. All Rights Reserved.] When Vince Lovegrove's wife Suzi discovered that she had contracted AIDS and agreed to be the subject of the Network Ten documentary Suzi's Story, the Lovegroves' struggle with the disease became the most public one that Australia has known. Her four year-old son Troy was also diagnosed as being HIV positive, and has continued the public battle against the disease so bravely initiated by his parents. Vince Lovegrove, described as the man who has done more to educate Australians about AIDS than any multi-million dollar campaign, appeared last week (8/11/89) on Margaret Peacock's 3AK radio program. Following Suzi's death, Vince has continued his fight against the disease which is decimating his family. A vocal and educated man, he is turning his energies outward, addressing conferences such as the recent "Caring For Children With AIDS" conference. In a remarkably measured and sensitive discourse, Vince Lovegrove described some of the troubles he was facing. He still blames "certain sections of the media" for sensationalising the subject. "A lack of knowledge has made the myth of AIDS frightening, because it's not really frightening at all when you look at the facts in black and white." He blames the lack of knowledge of the disease in the general community and the "connotations of AIDS... some of which are unsaid, but just thoughts connected with AIDS... every step of the line: preschool, the doctors, a visit to the corner shop, you find yourself in a perpetual education program." Statistics, he admits, are frightening. "There is no handbook on how to approach the situation (such as with) cancer and other terminal diseases." One issue which the Federal Government had not determined in the July White Paper on AIDS has been ejected from the "too-hard basket" with the announcement of a $13.5 million grant for people infected with AIDS in the course of medical treatment. Approximately 500 to 1,000 people, mostly haemophiliacs stand to benefit from this trust fund in the form of travel expenses, medical costs and payments to families which lose breadwinners to AIDS. In most cases, haemophiliacs are already prevented from taking out life insurance policies because of the nature of their condition. According to Federal Health Minister Neil Blewett, when he also was a guest on the Margaret Peacock program (8/11/89), the idea is based on a similar British trust fund set up for 1,200 haemophiliacs infected with AIDS. While the gay community seemingly has little to be joyous about in being excluded from such a desperately needed program, Blewett stressed that its establishment is a sign of a more compassionate and caring government. He cited difficulties encountered by people with AIDS in the USA, where the absence of a public national health system and an under-funded hospital system has meant, in many cases, financial disaster for people with AIDS and their carers. Blewett claimed "We are fortunate in this country that a great bulk of the expenses are met by the Medicare scheme and under our hospital services. We are a country which supplies AZT to all those who fit the protocol at the moment." He says the government accepted the Haemophilia Foundation's proposal because it (and the Prime Minister in particular) was impressed with the responsible way they conducted their campaign. However, on ABC TV news the same night, Heather Ross of the Haemophilia Foundation said she was extremely disappointed that it took four and a half years of "battling" to get the government to agree to any form of compensation. At first, according to ABC news, Blewett was reluctant to agree to compensation, arguing that it would set a worrying precedent (need we ask for which groups?). The special trust now means that many AIDS sufferers will be relieved of the stress of a lengthy court case and, one presumes, so will the government. What price 500 court cases? At least $13 million. When Margaret Peacock congratulated the government on protecting "innocent victims" with financial compensation, Blewett dismissed the term, saying "When you have a disease which no-one knows about, it's a bit invidious to label some people `innocent' and others not `innocent'." If no distinction is apparent in the minister's mind, why the distinction in his policy? Perhaps the caring and compassionate language Blewett (thankfully) uses when discussing this devastating disease will eventually be shown in more even-handed Federal policies which will benefit all people with AIDS. [Channel Ten will rescreen Suzi's Story on International AIDS Day, Friday December 1. Other networks will also be screening special documentary features on that day, set aside by the World Health Organisation to draw attention to the worldwide epidemic.] -- Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!3!634!381.1!Rob.Bates Internet: Rob.Bates@p1.f381.n634.z3.fidonet.org