The Paper | Calendar | |Businesses | Attractions | Nightlife | Resources | Gay Links | Home The Paper - September/October 1998 HEAL Opens Up Local AIDS Discussion AIDS has sadly made early death a part of gay culture. A new local organization is reaching out to the gay community and hopes to offer those who are HIV+ an option when it comes to how they manage their disease. HEAL (Health Education AIDS Liaison) is the local chapter of a national organization founded in 1985 in New York City. HEAL believes that HIV does not cause AIDS. While this runs counter to current medical evidence, HEAL has nonetheless attracted many who support its theory or find that the organization's "no AIDS drugs" philosophy matches their own. The Anti-Treatment Treatment Michele Rolfe, a resident of Pacific Grove, is president of the local chapter of HEAL. Rolfe learned that she was HIV+ 10 years ago. She hasn't had any of the AIDS-defining infections, which she attributes to her never having taken AIDS medications. Rolfe wants to avoid having people misinterpret HEAL's message. According to Rolfe, her group does not try to "convert" people to their way of thinking. Rather the group hopes to provide support for those who do not subscribe to current HIV treatment theories. The group does not try to persuade its members to use alternative therapies nor does it try to keep members unaware of potentially promising developments in traditional Western medicine. Rolfe became involved with HEAL three years ago. "I made my own personal decision not to take AIDS drugs because of my experience with people who had taken them," said Rolfe. "HEAL helped me validate what I was already doing with my health." Rolfe said that her HIV physician regarded her decision not to take medications such as AZT as suspect. "You don't join the 'cocktail party' and you're out," said Rolfe, referring to the current protease inhibitor and nucleoside analog 'cocktail' currently being prescribed for most HIV+ patients. Rolfe does continue to have her viral load and T-cell counts checked. Her viral load remains relatively low and her immune response is near normal. The AIDS "Gamble" During the early years of the epidemic, often regarded as a gamble: side effects were severe and sometimes dibilitating; study data showed that while antivirals could potentially improve the quality of a patients life, it didn't extend it. "We're all gambling," said Rolfe. "HEAL supports people who aren't taking them. That's not to say that we're trying to change the minds of people who are." HEAL believes that HIV is a harmless retrovirus and that AIDS antibody tests are highly flawed and show a great percentage of false positives. Drug companies, they believe, have no reason to end this misconception since they profit from it. By refusing to take antivirals Rolfe has in effect made herself the test subject in HEAL's AIDS experiment. Since she has never taken any antivirals or opporunistc infection prophylaxses, her life or death will prove her theory out one way or the other. Contact Information HEAL holds monthly meetings on the last Thursday of every month, between 7 p.m. & 9 p.m. Their next meeting will be on September 24th at 591 Lighthouse Ave., #2, PG, CA (next to Juice n' Java), where they will be showing the video "AIDS: A Second Opinion" produced by author and health advocate Gary Null. - WK