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Monday was World AIDS Day.
AIDS Project of the Ozarks, along with Springfield-Greene County Health Department, held a memorial service for AIDS victims at Park Central Square Monday night.
KSMU’s Erika Brame was at the event and files this report.
Many people acknowledged they were HIV positive at last night’s vigil.
According to the AIDS Project of the Ozarks, those are words that 20 million people can no longer say, because they’ve already died from AIDS, the disease caused by the virus.
A small gathering of people held candles at Park Central Square to commemorate World AIDS day.
On display was a portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a national effort to remember AIDS victims worldwide.
In 1996, the enormous quilt was displayed for the last time in its entirety at the National Mall in Washington D.C., taking up the entire area.
The quilt is now too large to be shown in one area.
Lynne Meyerkord, executive director of AIDS Project of the Ozarks, stood in front of the quilt and pointed out the names of people who have passed away from the disease right here in the Ozarks.
She says many of them were her close friends.
“There’s Scotty. He was one of the first kids to die here, from AIDS. There’s about four or five folks here that I know personally.” she said.
Meyerkord has been working with people who have HIV or AIDS since 1987.
She started out with a support group, and now points out some of the members of that group in the quilt.
“Greg, Randy, I did a, I was in a support group in 1987. Probably had about 25 folks in it and only 3 of them are alive now,” she said.
For a local quilt to be added to the national quilt, it must be three feet by six feet, representing a grave.
Springfield resident Juanita Mortensen is HIV positive.
Just last month, she said good bye to a dear friend who died from AIDS.
“Yeah she went to the hospital and then she went to the nursing home. The medications quit working for her. They had quit working for her about two years ago,” she said.
Her friend was 78 years old.
Organizers of the candlelight vigil said the purpose of World AIDS Day is to raise awareness of the disease, and to encourage the public to get tested for the virus.
Both the AIDS Project of the Ozarks and the Springfield-Greene County Health Department offer free testing for the virus.
For KSMU News I’m Erika Brame.
