By: Yohana de la Torre, Chief Editor

For most people, every day is a routine. For Randy Stevens, every day is a fight to live.

Randy wakes up, feeds and lets the dog out, and has breakfast. A fairly average routine except for the handful of pills he has to remember to take every day. Randy is living with HIV.

Since his diagnosis in February of 2000, life certainly changed for the former nurse practitioner. But HIV wasn’t going to win.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say I was afraid at first,” he says. “What made me change my attitude about the disease was that I found out that I wasn’t unique. There’s others out there living and fighting against the disease. I didn’t want to die. I had someone special in my life and I didn’t want to give up.”

Randy went on to explain that he was diagnosed after his partner of 12 years was. Adjustment to his medications weren’t always easy. There were nights with fever, stomach problems, night sweats and much more. But Randy says he and his partner decided to “not wallow in self pity and face it.”

“The medications given to treat the disease are poison, but they are necessary to stay alive,” Randy explains. “That’s why your body becomes toxic. Nevertheless, we aren’t living in the early 80s or 90s anymore. It’s not a guessing game any longer where doctors don’t know how much of a med to give a patient. We are living longer and don’t feel like we have an expiration date stamped on our foot anymore.”

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at the end of 2007, there were 599,819 people living with a diagnosis of HIV infection and 470,902 people living with AIDS in the country. Currently in Florida, one of every 123 men has HIV and one of every 296 women has HIV.

Randy and his partner are from San Francisco. They’ve lived in Southwest Florida for four years and have been fighting HIV for 10 years. Some months, they have several doctor visits, while others they just have regular check-up’s. But Randy and his partner don’t have to go at this alone — they have Island Coast Aids Network (ICAN).

As a client of ICAN, Randy has been introduced to a variety of helpful resources. ICAN provides individuals living with HIV/AIDS with an unyielding commitment. Through health expertise, support and advocacy the organization is leading a community based service for those living with the disease in our area.

ICAN was founded in 1987. The agency was first known as the Lee County AIDS Task Force, Inc., but changed its name in order to better reflect the service area of the six counties it assists. Until 1991, the primary function of the organization was to provide an HIV only medical clinic for infected individuals, but the urgent need to provide social services for clients with HIV/AIDS pushed ICAN to begin its case management programs.

“Progress in the medical treatment of HIV/AIDS has resulted in clients living longer and healthier lives,” says Carolyn Moore, ICAN Executive Director. “So, ICAN has placed additional emphasis on helping to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and assist individuals infected and affected in Southwest Florida.”

As a community based service organization, ICAN provides vital support assistance such as case management, food, clothing and transportation passes to over 400 AIDS infected individuals and their families in Southwest Florida. The organization is also the leader in the fight to stop the spread of HIV infection in our community by providing a variety of HIV education and prevention programs.

“We learned about ICAN through our church magazine,” Randy says. “When we moved here, we didn’t even know there were HIV services available. We called them and surprisingly it was extraordinary the services they have compared to California. Needless to say, San Francisco and New York are the leading edge in HIV services. But it was amazing that the services in Southwest Florida are probably about 75% of that, which is very good for a small community.”

Randy goes on to explain that when one is first diagnosed, they are basically waiting to die.

“For my partner and me, it was extremely hard to be diagnosed,” he adds. “Most individuals don’t know what the next step is. There are people who go through this on their own because family and friends shun them. And for those living in our area, it must be even more difficult. Fort Myers, unfortunately, isn’t on the edge of being out there in the fight against HIV/AIDS. But with ICAN, people in our situation can find services, knowledge and social support.”

For 23 years, the ICAN organization has been fighting the battle alongside clients, whether they need assistance with testing, case management, food and clothing, referrals or simple education.

Recently, one of ICAN’s case managers, Bobbi Frasca, assisted a family being torn apart by the financial burden of the disease. A man, hopeless and frustrated, thought there was no other option than to divorce his wife and move away because he was faced with the loss of his health plan coverage and the AIDS medications he must take to control the virus in his body. Case manager, Bobbi was able to network with local social service programs and assist the man and his family with household utilities, food and mortgage payments in order to buy him time and keep the family together.

“The service that has made the biggest difference for my partner and I really is the support group,” Randy says. “This isn’t just a support group about sharing personal experiences. We have built a very productive support system that is available to us 24/7. That is a feat in itself. We have met individuals living with the disease for 25 – 30 years and that has been the biggest inspiration of all. We are seeing living proof that hope and fighting this disease can help one live longer and have a more productive life.”

Aside from a support group, Carolyn and Randy say ICAN’s education and prevention services are some of the leading assistance programs in our area. Fighting to eliminate new infections, ICAN provides HIV/AIDS awareness classes, youth education programs like SISTA and services like prevention aid distribution, HIV testing and prevention and outreach initiatives.

“What is amazing to me is how many people have either forgotten about HIV/AIDS or still have many misconceptions regarding the disease,” says J. Mitchell Haley, ICAN Director of Development. “With advances in medical science it is true that the disease, when treated properly, is no longer a death sentence, but it is disheartening to hear people repeat myths and misinformation regarding it in this day and age. That’s when I truly admire the work of our case managers, educators and volunteers and the determination they show when reaching out to the public with knowledge and facts. HIV/AIDS may not be fatal any longer, but ignorance of the disease is almost as tragic.”

Randy agrees with Mitchell. To him, educating the community at large is one of the most important things in being able to fight this disease.

“Today, community-based AIDS service organizations continue to fight to slow new infection rates,” says Randy. “With a little knowledge, fighting the condition and the misconceptions can be easier and more effective.”

Organizations like ICAN are relentless in their work. As a community program, they labor to assist the infected individual, as well as the affected individuals. Carolyn explained that approximately, 1/4 of ICAN clients are single women, heads of household with children. Therefore, in addition to the services listed above, ICAN conducts specific events such as our summer school supply and holiday toy drives to help our clients and their children.

Currently, the organization is hosting their summer school supply drive. Everything from backpacks and lunch boxes to pens and pencils, notebooks, and binders are being accepted in order to distribute to the children preparing to start school in August.

ICAN also hosts fundraising events like the annual Handbag Happy Hour, the Southwest Florida AIDS Walk and the Red Ribbon Tea Dance, as well as urges the community to donate goods and volunteer their time.

“Honestly, the people doing this type of work are heroes,” Randy adds. “They give up their own life and choose to in order to help others like me. It’s not their responsibility. They do it because they care. And to find people and organizations like that nowadays is amazing.”

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