Attack on AIDS Task Force May Help

The San Diego County Regional Task Force on AIDS has been drawn into the spotlight by Dr. Theresa Crenshaw, a local sex therapist, who has criticized the group for not doing enough to stop the AIDS epidemic.

Crenshaw offered her services, and last week the Board of Supervisors voted to enlarge the task force to 25 from 24 members, apparently to allow Crenshaw’s appointment.

Though it was certainly not her motivation, Crenshaw’s attack on the task force may have actually been positive. The attention she has drawn will certainly help San Diego area residents understand that an immense assignment has been handed to a group of volunteers who have not been provided the resources to answer the challenge.

San Diego’s governmental response to acquired immune deficiency syndrome began in the summer of 1983. On the urging of gay activists, led by Dr. Brad Truax, then-Mayor Roger Hedgecock appointed the area’s first AIDS task force. Unlike today, the syndrome was then limited almost exclusively to the so-called “risk groups”--homosexual or bisexual men, intravenous drug users, and a few other special categories. But the epidemic seemed distant. There had been few cases in San Diego County.

There was much to be done, but little support. The small group managed to bring together the various organizations attempting to deal with AIDS and cause them to communicate and coordinate their activities.

Last year, the mayor’s task force disbanded itself in favor of a more comprehensive effort by San Diego County government, initiated by Supervisor Susan Golding. Health care is, by state statute, a county responsibility, and a regional task force has proven to be a positive step. Though still a volunteer effort, the group now involves more people and addresses a broader range of issues. It now has a half-time staff member.

Of course, a volunteer group with minimal paid staff is not equipped to fully deal with a problem such as AIDS. It is also easy prey for criticism that not enough has been done to prevent the spread of the disease.

This was the contribution offered by Dr. Crenshaw. She struck at the soft underbelly, the spot where anyone could expect to score a hit and draw blood. How can a volunteer agency with no funding expect to fight a major epidemic?

Actually, the task force has done an amazing job with little help. It has been able to continue the very important job of making people and agencies aware of the growing list of resources available to fight the syndrome.

It serves as an example of the new approach to problem-solving in America, where public and private efforts are combined in a way that expands their benefit. More than 60,000 households in San Diego County are receiving brochures about AIDS this month because of such cooperation. The American Cancer Society, conducting a routine fund-raising program, was asked to add AIDS information to the packet being distributed. The San Diego County Department of Health Services provided the brochures using state funding. The task force made it happen.

Despite its successes, however, the San Diego County Regional Task Force on AIDS will not be able to meet the challenge posed by the epidemic without paid staff. AIDS requires a comprehensive health care strategy that maximizes available resources in an approach similar to the county’s plan for emergency medical services.

Such a complex, sophisticated approach is not likely to be developed by volunteers who steal time for a task force from their already busy lives. It will require hundreds of hours of work and lots of money.

It is also a problem that will not be solved by publicity-seekers who use the media to intimidate county government and who seek positions in order to advance their own careers. Let us not forget that it was Crenshaw’s testimony in September, 1985, that provided weak-willed board members of the San Diego Unified School District just the excuse they needed to bar students with AIDS from classrooms. (The board has since reversed its decision.) Her advice contradicted overwhelming evidence, even then, that the virus was not transmitted by casual contact.

It was also Crenshaw who, after the nearly 2-1 defeat of the LaRouche AIDS initiative, told KSDO radio listeners that it was too bad, that Proposition 64 had been “the right legislation brought by the wrong people.”

We should also note that Crenshaw has never attended a meeting of the task force or any of its subcommittees, has never submitted written input about any of its programs, and did not express any interest in two positions on the group that were open last year. Her concerns about the task force seem quite recent.

If supervisors wish to expand the Regional AIDS Task Force, they should not waste the spot on a sex therapist. They would be much better advised to add a skilled, experienced medical planner who can help develop the sophisticated public health policies needed to deal with an epidemic.

Rather than allow the task force to become embroiled in a public controversy over inclusion of questionable aspirants, supervisors should consider providing the staff necessary to meet the real challenge presented by AIDS.

There is no time to waste on Theresa Crenshaw’s empty criticism. There is an epidemic under way that demands attention, and funding, immediately.