(image credit – CFJC Today)
By Michael Reeve
WORLD AIDS DAY
December 1, 2022 | 4:42 p.m
KAMLOOPS — The ASK Wellness Society returned to its roots Thursday for World AIDS Day. ASK planned two events to highlight the day and raise awareness, including a celebration scheduled for tonight (Dec. 1) at 6:30 at the Kamloops United Church.
Cookie Reimer has volunteered with ASK Wellness for more than three decades and organized Thursday’s event. Although HIV and AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was thanks to modern medicine, he believes the message of awareness is still vital to share.
“There is no cure. We have to make sure that people don’t get complacent just because there are pills you can take. I have friends who went from having to take handfuls of pills a day to only having to take one in the morning and one at night. And I am so grateful for their lives. But, in my 33 years with ASK, I have lost 113 friends and acquaintances,” said Reimer.
The current stigma surrounding the disease continues to challenge Dale Northcott, who has been HIV positive for 17 years. After all this time, Northcott says her diagnosis hasn’t changed who she is or what she’s been able to accomplish in her life.