2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Buffalo AIDS Task Force, the volunteer driven grassroots organization which grew into AIDS Community Services and the Evergreen Association. Starting today, we'll be posting excerpts from the agency's 25th anniversary commemorative booklet, beginning, as all stories do, at the beginning.
How It Began by Kate Gallivan as told by Dr. Ross Hewitt
Ross Hewitt treated his first two AIDS patients in 1982 at Bellevue Hospital in New York City—a young gay man with life threatening diarrhea and an IV drug user with a rare parasitic brain infection. Ross knew that if AIDS was caused by a virus spread through sexual and blood contact, as then seemed plausible, it would devastate not only the gay community but the whole community. When Ross returned to Buffalo in 1983, he led a workshop about AIDS during Buffalo's Gay Pride Festival, helped by Buffalo State professor Dr. James Haynes. About 25 people attended the workshop, and Ross invited those who were interested to a follow-up meeting to strategize about next steps. Two weeks later, 10 people met at the Gay/Lesbian Community Center on West Delavan Avenue, and together the group created the Buffalo AIDS Task Force (BATF). The panic level among the gay and hemophilia communities began to rise and information about AIDS was difficult to get. The BATF set up a telephone hotline, and soon a constant stream of calls was being answered by a small group of dedicated volunteers. Ross began caring for men with AIDS who were hospitalized. Some had returned to Buffalo after being diagnosed elsewhere, and their families didn't know where to turn. Many faced discrimination and a lack of compassion while they lay dying in hospitals under the care of fearful medical professionals. As Ross saw the human toll AIDS was taking, it became clear to him that the BATF would have to develop services that were caring, sensitive, and non-discriminatory. In June of 1983, Governor Mario Cuomo signed legislation awarding $5.2 million to the State Department of Health for research, care, public education and the creation of the AIDS Institute. In November of the same year, the BATF incorporated as a not-for-profit organization and was awarded state funding in early 1984, using the grant to hire its first staff and coordinate the hotline and community education efforts, all of which were staffed by volunteers. In 1987, the BATF changed its name to the Western New York AIDS Program, and 3 years later the name was changed to AIDS Community Services.
Statistic: In 1983 there were 3 known cases of AIDS in Western New York.
