Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!ucla-cs!Adam.Selene@f269.n107.z1.fidonet.org
From: Adam.Selene@f269.n107.z1.fidonet.org (Adam Selene)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: BUDDY PROGRAMS
Message-ID: <37807@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 7 Aug 90 14:55:41 GMT
Sender: news@CS.UCLA.EDU
Organization: FidoNet node 1:107/269 - Utopian Quest LI, Bellmore NY
Lines: 33
Approved: phil@wubios.wustl.edu
Note:	Copyright 1990 by Daniel R. Greening.  Permission granted for
Note:	non-commercial reproduction.
Archive-number: 2344

In a nutshell:   An AIDS Buddy is a volunteer companion ... really more of a 
part time servant than anything else -- and occupies a special role in a PWAs 
life, different than that of "real" friends.
+
+    For one thing: "liking" isn't the glue that holds the relationship 
together.    The PWA doesn't have to ENGRATIATE him/herself to the Buddy ... 
or fear that a wrong word or action will result in abandonment.   ( A Buddy 
can be "relieved" but only after a replacement is actually in place).
+
+     How much and what kind of help a Buddy provides varies from program to 
program.    But the key to it is "being there" when expected, NO MATTER WHAT.
 
+
+      The Buddy Programs were originally developed for PWAs who didn't have 
well developed personal support systems ... but have been helpful even to 
people who DO.    
+      (By the way ... if a friend's Buddy seems cold and distant
+       toward family and friends -- it's not uncommon.   They're 
+       SUPPOSED to keep a little distance from "others" so as to
+       emphasize that they are "there" for their CLENT'S NEEDS, and
+       nothing else.   My friend "Dan" found that very reassuring
+       at several points in his illness.  However PWAs LOVERS sometimes have 
trouble dealing with being shut out of the Buddy-Client relationship, to the 
point of feeling "treated like part of the furnature."
+
+       I don't know of any "studies" done on Buddy Programs ... though the 
AIDS organizations must think they are of value ... they keep allocating 
resources to recruit, train, and place  Buddies -- 
SEEN-BY:

--  
Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!107!269!Adam.Selene
Internet: Adam.Selene@f269.n107.z1.fidonet.org