S.D. Chided for Lack of Help for AIDS Victims

San Diego has a reputation of running away from helping AIDS victims, the leader of a national organization that helps AIDS sufferers said Thursday.

Michael Merdian, executive director of the National Assn. of People with AIDS, made the statement in urging San Diego County organizations to work together more closely to help victims of the disease.

Merdian said cooperation among organizations will become more important because fewer federal dollars will be alloted to care for AIDS victims in the future.

Use of Volunteers Urged

“I’ve always been told that San Diego is a place to run away to, to get out of politics and AIDS assistance work,” Merdian said. “A lot of people are not involved here, and I find that very interesting.”

Merdian noted that his organization has many people who have either been diagnosed as carrying the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or as AIDS patients. He challenged local assistance providers to enlist as volunteers those directly affected by the disease.

“Let us show that we can be productive members of society,” said Merdian, who himself was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986. “We do have an important voice in the fight against AIDS.”

Merdian’s comments came during the start of a two-day California Assn. of AIDS Agencies conference under way at the U. S. Grant Hotel. His speech drew immediate reactions from many of the conference attendees who work helping San Diego-area AIDS victims.

Marc Herstand, executive director of the San Diego AIDS Project, said the work of the various local agencies is beginning to coalesce, pointing to the creation of an HIV coalition, an educational task force and an AIDS assistance fund.

“Hopefully we’re putting the infighting behind us,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of collaborative efforts.”

‘Absolutely Right On’

But Bill Freeman, executive director of the AIDS Assistance Fund of San Diego, said that Merdian’s comments were “absolutely right on,” that local agencies do need to pool their efforts.

“We’re talking about ways to work together, ways to collaborate, ways to coalesce,” he said. “And we’re finding ways to work together.”

And Lois Gail, an official with the Center for Social Services, said local AIDS assistance groups should worry more about making San Diego “the lead city” in helping victims, rather than concentrating on parochial efforts to make their independent groups “the lead agency.”

“Cooperation is the only way we can maintain the focus on the client,” she said. “We need to learn to work together.”

Also on Thursday, Dr. Michele Ginsberg, San Diego County chief of AIDS and community epidemiology, released the results of recent studies showing that the virus remains prevalent among homosexual males who also use intravenous drugs, and female prostitutes, who often have many sexual partners and drug addictions.

But, on an upbeat note, she said that, although two in every 10,000 blood donors nationwide have been found to be carry HIV, the rate has been only 1 in 10,000 in San Diego County.

“This is a very positive statement in terms of the donors and in terms of the safety of our community,” she said.