CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, May 1, 1995
3A
Students learn while helping AIDS victims
By Novelda Sommers Kansan staff writer
Ingrid Backus knows her friend Michael's days are numbered.
Michael has AIDS. He is one of Backus' clients at the Wyandotte County AIDS Project.
Michael is one of the reasons Backus, Kansas City, Kan., senior in social welfare, isn't afraid of death anymore.
"Death doesn't scare me," Backus said. "It's the pain and what they go through before they die that scares me."
Tarita Triplett, Hazelwood, Mo., senior, knows Backus' days with Michael are numbered, too. Class is almost over, and both women will graduate in May. They have worked at the Kansas City, Kan., YWCA for two semesters to fulfill the 560 hours of practicum experience required for a bachelor in social welfare.
The hours can be fulfilled with an agency such as the Social and Rehabilitative Services, or within the School of Social Welfare, assisting professors with research.
"It will be hard to leave because I know I will never see some of them again." Backus said.
Mark Stowell, director of the the Wyandotte County AIDS Project, said having the two students work for him was risky because they were not permanent employees. He said clients were often reminded that Backus and Triplett would be leaving.
"We talked about closure all along, so that the clients don't feel like we're pulling the rug out from under them," he said.
But those aren't the only worries connected with working on the project.
Triplett said that some of her friends and family thought she was in danger of contracting HIV from working with the clients. Even she was worried at first.
She said that she wanted to work for the AIDS Project because she knew her clients would come from a variety of backgrounds. Most of the people who ask for help are poor, but that is where the similarity ends, Triplett said.
"They come from all different backgrounds. Some of them are on probation, some are drug abusers and alcoholics," she said. "They are young and old, men, women and little children. Some of them are very open about it, and some don't tell anyone."
The work Backus and Triplett do sounds benign.
They connect clients with services offered by other agencies, such as transportation, medical care and counseling. Right now, the project helps 49 clients, the largest case load of any of the AIDS projects in Kansas. But, clerical as it may sound, the job can be an emotional roller coaster.
Michael, whose last name could not be used because the AIDS Project guarantees confidentiality, said that the uncertainty was the hardest part about living with AIDS.
"I feel good one day, then I get sick one day, and I don't know if that is going to be the time I end up in the hospital," he said.
Early in April, one of Backus' clients did die. She said visiting him in the hospital when she knew he was dying was scary. She didn't know what to say.
"Part of me was praying he would die because of the pain he was going through, and his partner was suffering too. There was almost a sense of relief when he died." Backus said.
Stowell said that even though the death was sad, it was a good experience for Backus because social workers often confront death. He said that he had even started to enjoy going to funerals.
"It allows me to meet part of a client that I never got to meet," he said. "It's kind of neat to hear about them, how they were when they were whole and not ill."
But for now, death does not weigh heavily on Backus' mind. Saying goodbye to clients while they are still alive does.
"You get really close to them. They are the neatest, neatest people," she said. "I have one client who has the best outlook. He lives for each day. He has made me see that I've got to enjoy what I have now."
Ingrid Backus, Kansas City, Kan. senior, left, and Tarita Triplette, Hazelwood, Mo., senior have worked at the Kansas City, Kan., YWCA for two semesters helping people infected with the AIDS virus. Paul Katz
Backus said sometimes it was difficult not to get angry with some of the clients who still engaged in risky behavior or did not take care of their health. She knows they will die, but she also knows their lives can be prolonged if they take care of themselves.
"There are some who are alcoholics, and alcohol weakens the immune system. You want to shake them and say, 'You know what? You're getting closer to your death!'"
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Paul Kotz /
KANSAN
ABOVE: Backus and Trippelt look over the handwork of one of their clients who constructed a train set in his apartment. Part of their duties include traveling to clients' homes to discuss problems and evaluate their progress.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
RIGHT: Backus and Triplet have shared their client experiences with each other to help each other and learn from their 560 hours of practicum experience.
Memorial award is established
KU student learns to cope with brother's death.
The Minority Engineering Program in the School of Engineering presented an award in memory of Hermann Luke Friday night at the Burge Union.
The award was given to Gerardo Prado, Fenton, Mo., senior. Prado is an honors student majoring in architectural engineering and a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
"The Herman Luke Award is our way of honoring one of our own," said Florence Boldridge, director of the Minority Engineering Program.
Boldridge said that Lucke epitomized high academic standards and quality. She and students in the program decided to create an award in Lucke's name to be given to a student who embodied those things, she said.
Hermann Lucke was an honors student in physics and was named outstanding senior in physics last semester. He was also a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the Hispanic American Leadership Organization.
Karin Lucke recovering from December tragedy
By Paul Todd Kansan staff writer
Herman Lucke Sr. still goes to work every day. Annie Lucke still sets the table at dinner time. And Karen Lucke goes to rehabilitation for two hours three times a week.
For the Lucke family, life still consists of comfortable routines.
But sometimes, forgetting just for a moment. Annie sets the table for four.
"I still wait for him," she says. "I don't have words — he was my son. We had wonderful communication. We all loved each other so much."
For Karin Lucke and her parents, life is slowly returning to normal. It has been almost four months since Hermann Lucke Jr. died in a car accident in Chile. The Luckes were visiting family in Santiago, Chile, last December. When Hermann died, he was a senior at KU majoring in physics and engineering.
Karin, a KU junior at the time, has almost fully recovered from the broken neck and leg she suffered in the same accident that killed her brother during Christmas break.
Last week was the first since Karin returned from Chile that she didn't have to go to therapy every day. Most of her therapy is speech training — not for her voice, but for her memory. There is a period of time from last summer until January that she can't remember, including the trip to Chile.
"To 'see it is reality," she says. "I've just had to believe it."
She remembers all the
Karin Lucke
people she knew before last summer and has occasional flashes of events that happened during the amnesia period.
Karin's doctors say that time will narrow the gap in her memory. But as that gap approaches the accident, she is somewhat frightened.
"I'm not really concerned with remembering the accident," she says. "But some things I would like to know, especially the last great days with my brother."
"I have to keep hope to keep on living without getting into a depression — he was not at all a quitter," she says.
"I feel like the amnesia is a protection for me," she says. "Because I can't remember, I have to work hard."
But Karin said the memory loss could be God's way of keeping her safe.
Karin plans to return to KU in the fall. She is
already taking French lessons — her fourth language — from a family friend, and will probably enroll in a summer class at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She hopes to take three classes and to continue playing the viola in the KU Orchestra this fall. She has played the viola some already, but her arm is still weak.
But she has yet to decide if she will live alone at KUlike she used to.
"Last year, I never really was alone because my brother was always there," she says.
Annie Lucke says the family's faith has helped it through the tragedy.
"We've gotten a lot of support from our church family," she says. "We are Christian people, and we know he's in a good place."
Herman Lucke Sr., who graduated from KU in 1989, said that the family's church sent a pastor and his wife to Chile after the accident to support them and that the church family still helps them cope.
"Our church kept sending strength over every kind of distance," he says.
But Karin kept the family going most of all.
"Just the fact that Karin was miraculously saved," he says. "Just the fact that we had to take care of her."
Annie Lucke took a leave of absence from her job to be home with Karin. She missed her daughter, she said, because she loves her company.
"Ive rededicated my life to Karin now," she
says
Returning to Chile, though, is something the Luckes don't often think about.
Their roots are here now, in America, but many of their relatives still live in Chile.
"I have family there — my parents," Annie says. "It's going to be difficult, but I know I will go back again someday."
Herman Lucke Sr. said the family had to resist the temptation to go into seclusion. They try to share as much as they can with people, and to talk about Hermann Lucke Jr.
People all over the world have been praying for the Luckes, he says, especially friends and family here in America.
"We have so many blessings," he says. "That, in the end, is what really matters. There's a normal temptation to try to forget, but we don't and we'll probably never forget."
For Karin Lucke, the past few months have cleared up questions she had about life and death.
"Mostly I've come to realize how mortal we are," she says. "Because of my faith, that realization is like a solid rock. Before I would probe and question, but now I am so thankful that I know where Hermann is."
Now the challenge lies not in her weakened arms and legs or her partial memory, but someplace else.
"The challenge is that we all will reunite," she says. "It seemed so long, but not really now. I just can't wait to see him again."
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