A test for life
Patty Dunn, registered nurse at Watkins Memorial Health Center, confers with a patient regarding her test results. Dunn is one of the faculty at Watkins in charge of the HIV testing program.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
By Luisa Flores
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Dunn, left, and Charles Yockey, Watkins physician, discuss a patient's medical records.
Cold sweats. Sleepless nights. Missed classes. The possibility of testing positive for HIV is a test no one wants to fail.
Some KU students have had experiences such as these before taking the test and while waiting for the results.
"A lot of kids are nervous," said Jody Woods, director of nurses at Watkins Memorial Health Center. Woods also counsels students about HIV.
"When one shows them the results they are very relieved," she said. "You get people who cry when they find out that they don't have the disease. They say, 'I didn't think I had it, but I had to know.'"
The desire to know is what led John Bennett, Mohrsville, Pa. senior, to take the test.
Bennett, who is bisexual, had been involved in a six-month relationship with another man when he left to study abroad in Europe. They broke off the relationship because they would be so far apart, but they continued writing.
Suddenly Bennett's former partner stopped writing. When Bennett came back from Europe and found that his former partner had died of complications of AIDS, he panicked.
"When I was there, I lost contact with him; he just stopped writing," Bennett said. "When I got back I could not find him anywhere, and I learned in the paper, two months after my coming back, that he had died of AIDS. That was the first time I heard of him since he stopped writing, and I really panicked. I thought, 'Oh my God, I have it too!'
It was a terrible experience, Bennett said.
It was a terrible experience, but I state,
"I didn't want to go to class," he said. "I stayed home most of the time, so I decided that it was probably the best thing to get a HIV test.
"When I went to take the test I was really nervous. I almost passed out when they took the blood. I was so scared that it might turn out."
Bennett said that since he went to an anonymous testing center,he had to wait two weeks for the results
"I lied about my name because I was so scared that my parents or someone would find it out if I was HIV-positive," he said. "I got the results two weeks later, and they were negative, fortunately."
weeks later, altercation were negative; fordham,
Charles Yockey, Watkins physician, said that
"One, so you can be treated, and two, so you can stop from infecting other people." Yockee said.
"Testing positive to HIV means, with a high probability, that the person will eventually come down with symptoms of AIDS." Yockey said.
The period from the exposure to the virus to the development of symptoms of AIDS is called a window. Yokey said that the window for developing symptoms of AIDS could be 24 months to 10 years, depending on the strength of the individual's immune system.
Those who are HIV-positive can get treatment at Watkins.
"We can't keep people from getting AIDS, but we can delay the development of the disease," Yockey said.
There are several medications to help one's immune system fight the disease such as AZD, ddT and dC, which are the most commonly available. They can be used alone or in combinations.
"There is a proverb that says, 'What you don't know cann't hurt you,'" he said. "That is not the truth with HIV because what you don't know can kill you."
Yockey said that the HIV test had been available at Watkins since it was introduced in 1985.
There are two procedures available for HIV testing at Watkins, an anonymous test and a confidential test.
The student gives a fictitious name and then answers questions that can help determine the person's risk for HIV.
The cost of the HIV test is $19. The student pays in cash and schedules a return appointment in two weeks, he said.
The HIV test and the results are confidential. The results are available in two days, he said.
Approximately six to eight students come to Watkins to have anonymous HIV tests each week, and four to six students a day have confidential tests. Yockey said.
The blood samples go to the Smith-Kline reference lab in Kansas City, Mo. The lab personnel apply the Enzyme Linked Immune Sorbent Assay test, or ELISA, which is about 99 percent accurate.
some viral antibodies can be similar, so occasionally the test mistakes other viruses or HIV is what is
rly in what is called a false-positive result.
"If that happens the student is never told that he
"I lied about my name because I was so scared that my parents...would find out ifI was HIV positive."
Yockey said that a confidential test meant that the doctor knows the name of the patient, and the result goes to the student's medical record. No one can know the information in the medical record unless the patient gives permission
John Bennett Mohrsville, Pa., non-traditional student
If the test is positive, laboratory personnel take the same blood and apply the Western Blot test. The Western Blot test is 100 percent accurate at detecting HIV antibodies.
or she was positive to ELISA." Yockey said.
During the return appointment a nurse gives the results of the test to the student, Vockey said. If it is negative the nurse explains to the student how to protect him or herself in the future. If it is positive a physician does
the counseling and medical evaluation.
rance." Woods said.
Some people ignore HIV-positive test results.
"You can be talking to a patient, and he or she will say 'I don't know if I want to know' or If I don't know I won't be scared." That is to live in igno-
Some people ignore HIV-positive test results.
Patty Dunn, registered nurse at Watkins, tells the results to students. She also advises students who have had the test.
Dunn said that she always told the students to modify risky behavior, such as unprotected sex. She suggests using condoms, staying monogamous and avoiding drugs and alcohol.
"My job is more of a counselor," she said. "I give advice, but the patient is the one who decides if they want to change their behavior. People feel a false security when their results are negative, and they don't change their risky behavior, which is why they have been tested in the first place. That is like Russian roulette."
But John Bennett is no longer playing Russian roulette.
"I always have safe sex. I will still get tested every six months or so. Now I'd rather know. I'd rather go to get tested very often; I'd rather know what my future is going to be like instead of guessing." Bennett said. "Two weeks of worrying while you wait for the results of an HIV test are much better than worrying all the time whether or not you have HIV."
You know you're a hit when ... rednecks laugh?
By Jim Patterson Associated Press writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Comedian Jeff Foxworthy knew something the rest of us didn't: It's OK — maybe even good — to be a redneck.
After five best-selling books, two Showtime specials and a million-selling album, Foworthy still goes onstage almost nightly. In his Georgia twang, he does his bit about how you know you're a red-neck. Among the many slogans that have graduated to coffee cups and calendars:
Your porch collapses and kills more than three dogs.
You wear a dress that is strapless and a bra that isn't.
You've been on television more than five times describing what the tornado looked like.
He's got hundreds of them — some ranchy, others silly, many caustic. But Foxworthy, 35, manages to keep audiences laughing and says the secret is simple: Rednecks are happy people who aren't afraid to laugh at themselves.
"You may be a redneck if your dad walks you to school because you're in the same grade; if you see a sign that says 'Say no to crack,' and it reminds you to pull up your jeans; if you've ever taken a beer to a job interview."
Redneckes, and maybe some sophisticates who long to let their guard down, regularly pack Foxworthy's shows at 2,500-seat halls to hear such lines as:
Foxworthy says that rednecks have a "glorious lack of sophistication," and that's what helps make them endearing.
Country music helped Foxworthy find his audience. He was in Daytona Beach opening for the rock band Poison and picked up an extra $100 opening another show for Emmylou Harris.
He also opened for Vince Gill and Garth Brooks,
and his album was a hit on the country, rather than pop. chart.
He said his sitcom would be true to his life—a man living in a house full of women with a job in which his peers are mostly guys.
Foxworthy says his mentors are Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld
Above all, the show will portray people who are happy with their lot, not prone to existential angst.
"I'm around a lot of people that make a lot of money and drive nice cars, and they're totally miserable. And I look back at the way I grew up." Fox-worthy said.
Sartorial superiority?
"We were just middle-class people, and we had a great life. That's the great thing about being redneck ... Rednecks don't want to be anything else. That's why we're able to laugh at it." he said.
"You can give rednecks money — I mean, look at Elvis. You give him money, and he's still a redneck."
Think your professor/graduate teaching student stepped out of GQ or Glamour? This week, the Kansan is taking nominations for the best-dressed male and female instructors. Call us at 864-4810 to put in your vote.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Cultural Calendar
EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Exhibition — The Liberated Image: Photography since 1970 from the Tampa Museum of Art's Permanent Collection, Spencer Museum of Art, through March 12.
Exhibition - Virtue, Labor, and Profit in the Georgian Era: British Art from the Collection,
Spencer Museum of Art, through March 12.
Exhibition — African-American Works from the Collection. Spencer Museum of Art, through March 19.
Exhibition—The Art of Love: Nineteenth Century Valentines from the Thayer Collection, Spencer Museum of Art, through March 5.
Lecture — "How To Get a Job Like Mine," by Kurt Vonnegue, 8.p.m., tomorrow, Lied Center.
Lecture — "Free' in Zen," by Fukushima Keido Roshl. 7 p.m. Tuesday, Spencer Museum Auditorium.
Lecture—"Photography," by Lillian Bassman, 2 p.m., Saturday, Atkins Auditorium, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. 4525 Oak Street. Kansas City, Mo.
PERFORMANCES
Department of Music and Dance presents a Student Recital, 7:30 p.m., tomorrow and Friday, Swarthout Recital Hall.
KU Theater for Young People presents "Wiley and the Hairy Man," 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., Saturday, Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Tickets $3-$5.
Department of Music and Dance presents Student Concerto Concert Audition Recitals, 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Swarthout Recital Hall.
Department of Music and Dance presents the KU Symphony Orchestra with Kansas City Youth Symphony, 3:30 p.m., Sunday, Lied Center. Tickets $3-$6.
Department of Music and Dance presents a Faculty
Recital, 7:30 p.m., Monday, Swartouth Recital Hall.
Topeka Symphony Orchestra presents a concert with violinist Ian Zenny, 8.p.m., Saturday, White Concert Hall on Washburn University campus, corner of 17th and Jewell street, Topeka. Tickets $5-$14.
Kansas City Symphony presents the Benton String Quartet, 2 p.m., Sunday, at White Recital Hall, 4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, Mo. Tickets $14.
Missouri Repertory Theatre presents "The Woman in Question," 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, at Studio 116 in Performing Arts Center, 50th and Cherry streets, Kansas City, Mo. Tickets $7.
Folly Theater presents "Rediscovering the American—A Family Performance," 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Sunday, 300 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Mo. Tickets $7-$9.
Natural Ties is sponsoring a concert at 8 p.m. tomorrow at Liberty Hall. Bands performing will include Slack Jaw, The Eudoras and Sun Barrow. Tickets are $4 in advance, $5 at the door.