Each week the AIDS Walk Boston Blog will profile one of our programs at AIDS Action Committee.  The money raised by the Walk is crucial for supporting these vital programs. 

This week we spoke with Tony Godek, Hotlines Coordinator.  

The HIV Hotline was launched in 1983 by AIDS Action Committee founder, Larry Kessler, as a response to the emergence of HIV/AIDS. “When the Hotline was created in 1983, the HIV/AIDS was an issue of despair and confusion. Many calls were about coping with this emerging epidemic,” notes Tony. As the HIV/AIDS epidemic has changed and treatments have advanced, the tone of the hotline has become more focused on medical questions, requiring sophisticated and comprehensive knowledge of the disease. Today, Hotline counselors are prepared to speak to callers who have questions about issues of safer sex, transmission, testing, and taking medications.

Each year, the HIV and Hepatitis Hotlines councilors answer nearly 14,000 calls from individuals who are at risk of contracting HIV, individuals infected with HIV who have health questions, family members of patients, and providers concerned about their patients. The Hotlines are accessible to all in need of HIV/STD information in MA and RI and all calls are anonymous, confidential and free. 

The Hotline staff is familiar with, and has quick access to, thousands of up-to-date local and national resources.  The staff is also able to refer HIV-positive callers to case management, legal, finance, housing or transportation programs at AIDS Action Committee and elsewhere.

Tony leads a staff of thirty Hotline volunteers who go through an extensive screening and one month training in order to be prepared to answer any questions callers might have. These volunteer counselors commit to working a four-hour shift once a week for at least one year.  Many continue with the program for long periods of time; one volunteer has been with the program virtually since its inception! 

Over the years, the Hotline program has grown to address the growing needs and concerns of HIV+ clients and other at-risk populations. A Hepatitis Hotline was recently launched and a Sexual Health Hotline will be launched in the summer of 2008. Tony notes that, “Hepatitis is a disease that many HIV-positive individuals also have to be concerned about because an individual who is infected by one of these diseases is prone to an infection by the other disease because of a weakened immune system.”

Funds raised through AIDS Walk Boston support programs like the Hotline, please register or donate today to help us continue these vital services.