BREA : School Workers Learn About AIDS

Brea students got a half-day off from classes Friday so their teachers could learn a lesson about AIDS.

About 450 teachers and other employees of the Brea-Olinda Unified School District gathered in the performing arts center of Brea-Olinda High School to attend a seminar on AIDS awareness led by Beverly Bradley, supervisor of health programs for the San Francisco Unified School District and former health consultant for the Orange County Department of Education.

“The reality of HIV is very much a part of my world,” Bradley told the assembly. “One of my employees died Thursday night, and when I get back I expect the spouse of another employee to be dead. That’s the reality in San Francisco. It doesn’t have to be like that here.”

The Brea employees took a test to see how knowledgeable they were about AIDS and how it is transmitted. As Bradley revealed the answers to the quiz, she talked about the disease.

Bradley emphasized that AIDS is not spread through casual contact and that the most likely modes of transmission are through sexual intercourse or sharing needles.

“If it was like chickenpox, none of us would be here. This is a very fragile virus,” Bradley said. “But there is a difference between knowing it, reading it and believing it.”

Friday’s assembly was the first time the Brea school district held an AIDS awareness assembly for its employees, said Peter Boothroyd, assistant superintendent for the district.

“We hope to gain better awareness, a better understanding of the AIDS situation and more knowledge for our teachers so they are in a better position to answer questions from students,” Boothroyd said.