Pubdate: Sun, 20 Dec 2009
Source: Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)
Copyright: 2009 Newark Morning Ledger Co
Contact:  http://www.nj.com/starledger/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/424
Author: David Giambusso

N.J. WOMAN URGES NEWARK CHURCH LEADERS TO USE PULPIT TO PREACH 
HIV/AIDS PREVENTION

NEWARK -- Safe sex and sanitary drug use are not subjects most people 
expect to hear about in church, but in Newark, where one in 47 people 
have HIV/AIDS, one woman is urging local pastors to put aside their 
discomfort and start using the pulpit to preach about AIDS prevention.

"We talk about basic HIV transmission and the role the congregation 
can play in stemming the epidemic," said Deloris Dockery, who is HIV 
positive and heads the program "One Conversation," a part of the 
Hyacinth AIDS Foundation.

For three years, Dockery, of Summit, has lobbied pastors and bishops 
throughout Greater Newark to counsel their congregations on safe-sex, 
needle exchange programs and early detection. While the bulk of 
churches have not been responsive, Dockery said her persistence has 
begun to pay off.

"In the churches that we have worked with, the response is good," 
Dockery said, but adds, "It could be greater. It could always be greater."

According to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, 
one in 62 African Americans in New Jersey is living with HIV/AIDS 
compared to one in 705 whites. While African Americans make up 14 
percent of the state's population, they make up 55 percent of the 
population living with HIV. And among those living with HIV/AIDS in 
New Jersey, 67 percent are children, according to the state health officials.

For Dockery, the mission is deeply personal. The 50-year-old single 
mother contracted HIV in 1994 after having unprotected sex. While she 
described the news as "devastating," she was determined to finish her 
education and get treatment.

"No matter how long God gave me, I really needed to secure the 
well-being of my son," who was still in her native Jamaica, she said.

Fifteen years later, she put her son through school in the U.S. and 
earned a master's degree in public health from the University of 
Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Thanks to early diagnosis and 
treatment, Dockery said she leads a healthy productive life, with a 
normal life expectancy.

"That is the message that I bring to churches and to our community," 
Dockery said.

A full-time employee at Hyacinth, Dockery spends her weekends 
traveling to churches in the greater Newark area giving presentations 
and organizing testing centers.

"Rain, sleet or snow, I'm out there like the post office," she said, 
and adds that she is grateful for every congregation that has opened 
their doors to her and her message.

Dockery has sent brochures to hundreds of churches, following each 
mailing with a phone call. Only about 13 churches have responded 
according to Dockery, who blames "fear and denial and stigma" for the 
lack of a greater response.

But with support from congregations like the New Hope Baptist Church, 
the Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, and the Shekinah Glory 
Christian Church, Dockery is seeing her message reach thousands of worshipers.

"When you keep doing funerals of loving, caring people who have been 
infected by that disease, all of that stigma goes away," said Joe 
Carter, New Hope's pastor. With 2,500 congregants, it is one of 
Newark's biggest churches and has been an important ally in Dockery's 
quest to raise awareness.

New Hope administers to hundreds of people with various needs, 
according to Francis J. Dixon, director of the church's Vision of 
Hope Community Development Corporation. Along with meals and 
counseling, the church offers on-site, confidential HIV testing, in 
partnership with UMDNJ.

According to Dixon, the church's HIV ministry would not have been 
possible without Dockery's efforts.

"There couldn't be a better ambassador," Dixon said. "She has been 
faithful. She doesn't mind getting down and doing the grunt work."

While medicine has made great advancements in HIV/AIDS, the disease 
is still a scourge on poor urban communities and experts blame 
ignorance about the disease for its permeation.

"In this country there are over 250,000 patients who do not know they 
have the disease," said Jihad Slim, a physician at St. Michael's 
Medical Center in Newark who treats infectious diseases. Citing the 
importance of testing, Slim said those 250,000 "are responsible for 
50 percent of the transmissions."

The medical community has actively sought out community leaders, 
sometimes paying them to encourage people to get testing and to 
practice safe sex, according to Robert Johnson, dean of the medical 
school at UMDNJ. While a pantheon of celebrities have taken up the 
cause of AIDS awareness over the decades, Johnson said they were not 
as effective as familiar faces.

"People who we have regular contact with - barbers, people who run 
beauty parlors, coaches - the evidence is there that they are more 
important than the celebrities," in connecting with communities, Johnson said.

According to Johnson and Dockery, churches and church pastors are 
often the most influential leaders in black communities.

"The church, from the early years of the Civil Rights movement, has 
played a pivotal role," Dockery said.

Because of the weight that pastors carry in the community, Dockery 
and her supporters feel that to ignore the epidemic is a sin.

Pastor Carter encourages ministers resistant to working with Dockery 
and providing their congregations with AIDS/HIV education to look to 
scripture as a guide.

"I would tell them the story of the Good Samaritan - how that man was 
laying in the road and even the religious leader overlooked him and 
walked by," Carter said. "These churches ought to be ashamed of 
themselves for turning their back on such a deadly disease."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart