AIDS advocates aim to raise more than money

The AIDS epidemic has robbed Bob Klein and his partner of so many friends they stopped counting after 75.

For all but one of the last 22 years, Klein has participated in the annual Seattle AIDS Walk, strolling alongside parents, siblings and friends of those who've died of complications from the disease.

Klein, 52, knows that a big part of the battle is against a growing misconception that the AIDS epidemic is somehow contained because so many with the disease are living longer and healthier lives.

That perception and other factors — competition for limited funds, for example — makes it increasingly difficult to convince people of the need to keep supporting the cause.

"Now, people are thinking it's under control, something like diabetes. They don't realize that because people are living longer, they need more help, not less," he said.

Klein said he raised the same $1,400 he did last year but from fewer donors — friends, he said, who in these dim economic times are more financially comfortable.

He was among 1,700 registered walkers who together with corporate matching donors were on their way to raising roughly $650,000 for Lifelong AIDS Alliance, the region's largest AIDS service organization.

Organizers estimate an additional 700 or so unregistered walkers participated in the one-mile walk on Capitol Hill. A decade ago, as many as 10,000 participated, at times raising more than $1 million.

As of July 31, just over 6,200 people in King County were reportedly living with HIV and AIDS — 90 percent of them men and nearly 70 percent of them men who contracted the virus through sex with other men, according to Public Health — Seattle & King County.

Figures show the rate of new HIV infection locally has remained steady over the last decade, with between 350 and 400 cases a year.

More effective antiretroviral drugs have meant more people are living longer. That also means that more, not fewer, need medical, dental and mental-health assistance, along with such services as housing and insurance.

With no cure in sight, AIDS services organizations are also focused on trying to stop the spread of the disease, with prevention programs aimed at high-risk groups. Among those groups are a generation of young people born after AIDS exploded onto the American scene but who came of age in the years when few people were dying as a result.

"AIDS has become a less visible disease in the scope of things," said Erick Seelbach, director of prevention and education with Lifelong AIDS Alliance. "It's difficult to maintain a dire crisis mode for a sustained period of time."

Seelbach said most of the attention now is on Africa, where the pandemic resulted in the deaths of more than 1.5 million people last year. "People are not hearing about what's happening in our backyard," he said. "We need to have a balance."

Among supporters at Saturday's walk was Ileen Brown, of Seattle, who for the past nine years has been walking in the event in memory of her brother, Fred Olson. He died 20 years ago in New York of complications from AIDS, and his partner of 19 years later committed suicide.

"He was one of the first people diagnosed with the disease, among the first to die," said Brown, 72. "So we walk, usually my sister and I, in honor of him."

Klein said he worries that the gay community has become fatigued with the AIDS epidemic.

"We've been dealing with it now for 20-some years. It's gone on so long, I think people are tired of dealing with it," he said.

"I look forward to the day when we don't have to do this anymore. Until then ... I guess I'll keep walking until I can't walk anymore."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com