25th Annual AIDS Walk/Run takes place June 4 at Beaver Lake
By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
In 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York state by 2020, and one of the oldest fundraising walk/runs in Central New York is doing its part to help reach that goal.
ACR Health’s annual AIDS Walk/Run, which will be held at Beaver Lake Nature Center on Sunday, June 4, has raised more than $2.75 million since the race’s inception in 1993.
“The end of the epidemic is in sight,” said Will Sudderth, development associate for ACR Health.
Each year, New York state sees 2,500 new HIV infections, down from nearly 4,000 new reports in 2014. To end the epidemic, Sudderth said, that number must drop to 750 new infections per year.
“It’s already become a chronically care-managed illness — it’s no longer a death sentence,” Sudderth said.
ACR Health began in 1983 as the AIDS Task Force of CNY, which later became AIDS Community Resources. The organization’s scope has since expanded beyond its initial focus. In addition to resources for those with HIV/AIDS, ACR Health now provides the following services and more:
- • Education and means of prevention of sexually transmitted infections
- • Assistance with managing chronic illnesses, including mental health conditions and heart disease
- • Health insurance enrollment
- • Programs for LGBTQ youth
- • Testing for HIV, Hepatitis C and sexually transmitted infections
- • Syringe exchange and Narcan training
The proceeds from the AIDS Walk/Run will benefit ACR Health’s Adolescent Health Initiative (AHI), a peer leadership program that covers topics such as sexual health, self-esteem, healthy relationships, and preventing drug and alcohol abuse in middle schools and high schools. The walk/run also supports the funding of client emergency needs.
“Someone shouldn’t have to choose between paying their bills and their medication,” Sudderth said of the emergency needs program.
AIDS doesn’t discriminate
While ACR Health’s mission has evolved, Sudderth said HIV/AIDS is still a very real danger.
“Just because it’s not the headline doesn’t mean you’re not at risk,” he said.
HIV/AIDS can be transmitted through sexual contact, sharing infected needles or other intravenous drug paraphernalia, or even through birth and breastfeeding.
“For the longest time, it was considered a gay man’s disease, and there was a lot of stigma about sexuality,” he said. “But we now know AIDS doesn’t discriminate.”
Fortunately, in addition to the use of condoms and increased STI testing, there is a relatively new tool to reduce the transmission of HIV: pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.
The daily PrEP pill Truvada, a combination of the antiretroviral medications tenofovir and emtricitabine, blocks “important pathways that HIV uses to set up an infection,” according to AIDS.gov.
“For a long time, the drug that’s in it was used as an HIV treatment, and then they found out it was really effective in preventing transmission,” Sudderth explained.
Sudderth said PrEP is more than 99 percent effective at preventing the transmission of HIV, but it’s not a guarantee.
“It’s another tool in our toolbox to fight this disease. It’s not a replacement for traditional forms of protection but it’s an enhancement,” he said. “You can’t say it’s 100 percent because there’s always that chance, but it is so, so, so effective.”
Celebration and awareness
Sudderth said the stigma of HIV/AIDS has lessened, but education and prevention efforts must continue.
“It’s wonderful that we aren’t where we were, but without important steps we could go back to that,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you are or what your background is — everyone deserves to be safe from this disease.”
The AIDS Walk/Run, Sudderth said, has been a “huge driving force” for raising awareness of HIV/AIDS and teaching community members how to protect themselves from contracting the disease.
While HIV/AIDS can be a sorrowful topic, Sudderth said the AIDS Walk/Run is an upbeat, family-friendly event, with many walkers and runners donning costumes and crowns. (There’s plenty of food at the walk, too.)
“It’s very much a day of celebration to remark how far we’ve come,” Sudderth said.
The event also has a “memory lane” to memorialize those who have died from AIDS and celebrate “the lives that have been lived,” Sudderth said.
This year marks the 25th annual race.
“There are a lot of races in the area these days, but not everybody has been around as long as we have,” Sudderth said. “We’re very proud of the work we’ve done and we’d like the community to join us for it.”
