AIDS Care to Hold ‘Buddies’ Training

AIDS Care, a Ventura County agency providing support to people who are HIV-positive or who have AIDS, will hold a two-day seminar this weekend to train people to serve as “buddies.”

“A lot of people (who are HIV-positive or who have AIDS) don’t have family going through this with them and don’t have a lot of friends,” said Cam Keep, the AIDS Care office manager, who himself has AIDS. “A buddy is just someone to go through these things with.”

Volunteers spend as much time as they want helping out, Keep said. “It can be whatever you work out, from one phone call a month to being there every day as someone gets sicker and sicker.”

The training sessions will run at the agency’s Ventura office from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers will learn how to listen effectively, hear lectures from grief counselors and discuss how to talk to someone dealing with the trauma of AIDS.

AIDS Care has been in Ventura County for about six years, Keep said. For more information on the agency or the buddy program, call AIDS Care at 643-0446.