Health

Bring AIDS into your home.

That’s what organizers of the World AIDS Day event in Tyler are asking parents: educate your children on the disease that affects 1 million people in the U.S., 25 percent of whom don’t know it.

“This day is a good time to start,” said Shirley Chiesa, retired Tyler AIDS Services executive director and a counselor. “The idea of not talking about it is killing kids.”

Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day around the globe and, in Tyler, a commemorative service, candlelight walk, and remembrance will take place Saturday evening. Earlier in the day, free, confidential and anonymous HIV screening is offered from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Tyler AIDS Services, 410 S. Chilton.

Local author Troy Carlyle, who is fighting AIDS, will lead the walk to Bergfeld Park.

“We’ve lost a couple of generations, really,” he said Thursday. “It gives us a time to reflect and pay homage to those folks … It’s a wonderful experience.”

Silence kills, Carlyle said, and just as the event helps remember those who lost their fight against AIDS, it encourages people to get the word out.

“Just take a minute out of your day to talk to your kids about it, about ways to protect yourself,” he said.

Chiesa agreed — telling children about the prevalence of AIDS in East Texas is part of caring for them, she said.

Tyler AIDS Services Education Director Christy Parks said World AIDS Day can be a time for people with HIV or AIDS to confront their disease.

“They are hiding — they don’t want everyone to know,” she said.

Tyler AIDS Services has 210 HIV-positive clients, but state data shows 1,843 HIV-positive residents live in Smith County. Parks estimated that only half of them receive treatment.

“For those people, you need to feel the warmth of love,” Carlyle said. “There are people going through what it means to have AIDS, and one thing it means is that you can be surrounded by love.”

Parks said community support at the event means a lot to those infected and affected by AIDS. About 78 percent of HIV-positive people suffer from depression.

“I hope people will come together,” she said.

Chiesa said the event is also a celebration of how far AIDS treatment has come — in the 80s and early 90s, drugs to fight AIDS were rudimentary and harmful, and AIDS patients were ostracized because few understood how the disease was transmitted.

Sadly, many feel like outcasts even today, she said.

“The stigma is still just about the same as it was 10 years ago,” she said.

Brochures with HIV/AIDS information will be available at the community event for people to take home to their children, Parks said.

“There will be a lot of folks who can help (anyone who wants more information),” Carlyle said. “This is a great opportunity, and (you can) possibly even meet some folks to have an ongoing dialogue with.”