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Golden Rule Program pairs volunteers with HIV patients By PETER WONG The concept emerged from David Wilson's frustration with the care available locally for people with the virus that causes AIDS. How to help To volunteer time, donate money or apply for services from the Golden Rule Project: Call 488-0731 starting Monday. E-mail at: [email protected] Write to or visit 281 Fourth St., Suite 2, Ashland, OR 97520 But when he launches the Golden Rule Project next week with help from Jackson County and the Lambda Community Center Association, Wilson said he has channeled his frustration into fulfillment. "I found that I was always a critic," said Wilson, who with his partner came to Southern Oregon five years ago. "I felt that rather than being a critic, I would do something -- and that is why I got involved." The Golden Rule Project will match trained volunteers with people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is an AIDS-buddy program similar to one in Portland. It draws its name from the biblical injunction in Matthew 7:12 to treat others as you would want to be treated. Starting Monday, Wilson said, volunteers will be enlisted, trained and paired with compatible clients. Volunteers will be available two hours per week for such chores as light housekeeping, laundry, yardwork, pet care and transportation. "A lot of people with HIV and AIDS feel isolated," said Wilson, who has HIV. "Sometimes, having this disease is challenging because you do not have anybody to talk to. Sometimes it is great therapy just getting it out to someone who is not there to judge you or cure you." The program also will offer personal care such as haircuts and social activities. Although the Lambda Community Center Association is paying program overhead costs through a grant from the Daedalus Project of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Wilson said the program offers services to anyone infected with HIV, regardless of cause. "A lot of people with HIV do not want it to be known because they are in pain or they fear for their jobs," he said. The virus is spread through an exchange of body fluids, usually through sexual intercourse with an infected person or shared needles for intravenous use of illegal drugs. Medications such as protease inhibitors have helped slow its progression toward acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), which leads the body defenseless against infection. There is no known cure. "(The drugs) are not a cure; it is a matter of time," Wilson said. "But everybody's goal is to have people with HIV be able to live normal and productive lives as possible." Much of the $20,000 for the program will come from a federal grant for AIDS care channeled through the Jackson County Health and Human Services Department. Wilson said the Golden Rule Project will complement, not supplant, other services for HIV-infected people such as Alan's House. The house was opened by OnTrack Inc. to provide foster care for AIDS sufferers. Although Wilson and someone else devised much of the Golden Rule Project, he said it resembles the Personal Active Listener (PAL) program that the Cascade AIDS Project in Portland began 20 years ago. Craig Hammond, its program manager for support services, said Wilson underwent the same intensive training in Portland that its own volunteers do. Hammond said the PAL program seeks to have between 60 and 100 volunteers available in a pool. "We still serve hundreds every year," Hammond said. "But people have stabilized a lot. They used to die from it, but now, a lot more people are living with AIDS." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA