 I'm a family nurse practitioner working in infectious disease specializing in HIV caring for women and teens. Well, I do HIV and AIDS education because I found out I was HIV positive when I was 16. What is HIV? HIV is a really interesting virus. It really has a will to live if that makes sense. It's a smart virus. I mean, it mutates. It actually comes into your immune system. Like if you think of your immune system as a battleground, your T-cells, they would be like the commander of the army. So T-cells, something for them will come into the body. The generals, the T-cells will take a look at it and say, okay, you're good. You're good. Flag, what are you? You don't belong here. Attack. Go attack. Go attack. This is not good. HIV comes into the body. It attaches itself to the T-cell. HIV is systematically crippling your ability to fight off anything. People don't die from HIV. People die with HIV. The name of the condition they're in when they start to get sick is called AIDS. It's the cold. It's the flu. Chickenpox. It's the pneumonia. It's all the other illnesses that your body is no longer able to fight. So once you get into care, there obviously are drugs that you can use. There obviously are support systems you can use. But on an individual level, how does your lifestyle have to change? Does it have to change? Is it the death sentence that used to be back in the 80s? No, it is not. It's definitely not the death sentence that it used to be. People are living for a long time with HIV. The sooner, the better, because there's less damage to other organs in the body. I want to play a game with you right now. Okay. I want to play a game. True or false of how you can contract HIV because we hear a bunch of crazy words. So anal sex. True. True. Without a condom. Without a condom. Without a condom. Without a condom. And then, of course, vaginal intercourse. Vaginal intercourse, yes. Without a condom, yes. Oral. Oral is possible. Not probable. Perfect. Highly unlikely. This is one of those things you, as an educator, you have to say, well, you know, even if it's a tiny, tiny percent of a chance, it can happen, but I mean, make a discerning decision because there are other STIs out there and they can be more easily transmitted through oral. Sharing food or drinks. Not at all. Tears. Tears, no. Hugs. No. Hand touches. No. Breathing, coughing, sneezing. No. And cards and gifts, either. Waves. High fives. I want you to touch on the cost, though, because I know that- No. So, so cost is so important, although there are drug assistance, age drug assistance programs out there, you have to qualify for it, but we do have that program in place. And there are programs out there for the uninsured. Cost is so expensive, and that's what people are not talking about. Yeah, we have treatment, but who's going to pay for it? And if you're coming from a family where you don't have health insurance, now you've got to find a program that takes the uninsured and hopefully you can get on this age drug assistance program because they're a waiting list. You said people aren't dying of- Yeah, people aren't so much dying from HIV or AIDS-related complications. People, a lot of people are dying from shame and stigma. How do you think it impacts somebody if you make them feel villainized just because they have HIV? How do you think it makes somebody feel if you're going to judge them, stay away from them, not give them a fair chance at a friendship or a relationship or, you know, I would get this thing all the time, like, you know, I was brand new and I was open about being HIV and, you know, I'd be standing here talking to somebody and I'd go over to talk to the next person and by the time I take a couple of steps to go talk to the next person, somebody's run up, you know, she's out of HIV, like, really? And that has a lot to do with the Madonna concert that we were talking about. People do stuff like that and people were doing stuff like that and it's like, first of all, I already told it, second of all, I'm talking, I'm not having sex, third of all, I'm grown, I can handle my own business, I promise you. Matter of fact, I can help you handle yours, do you need some counseling? How important is it to start getting treatment right away or to know right away as soon as possible? So it doesn't matter if your viral load is a million copies versus a thousand copies, the fact that you have detectable HIV virus, we know that it's doing damage to your body, to other organs, you can't see it, it's not going to happen overnight, it takes years. So that's why there's so much emphasis on getting people into care early, that's one reason. Number two, as long as you have detectable HIV virus and you're having amputated sex, you can transmit HIV, that matter how high the viral load is. Who wants to walk out in the middle of the street and say, hey, pick on me? Yeah. I do, I do, because I'm not going to let you do it to anybody else, I do. I've been here 34 years and I'm still standing, come patch me with that. It kills people because it makes them shut down, it makes them sadder than what they already are, it makes them hesitant to go get the help they need. People want to come out and talk about it and connect with other people that understand and other people who don't have it but understand. And sometimes we push our feet down people's throats and we just stop them from talking because we're being so cruel to them. You know, so we got to look at it from that perspective, don't kill people with your words. You know, they can live a long life, get gray hairs and grandchildren with HIV now. Literally. But they die from shame and stigma. We've got to figure out how do we get these kids interested in attending something. I think if we take the word HIV out of any program that you're doing, you may draw them in. It's kind of you have to slide it in once they get there. You tell them we have Big Sean coming to town and it's a free concert and once they get in there they find out. That's the best trick I've ever heard. They find out, oh, we're going to talk about HIV. Big Sean is a doctor. He's HIV positive and he has some lessons for you. Oh, you thought you meant the other Big Sean. No. I'm sorry. Yeah, we should so mention that we're in front of... We're in front of a magical place. So everybody, Denise Stokes, I shot a video at Magic City with all my clothes on standing outside doing a documentary. I want to have a little bow in your hair. Talking about safe sex. Whatever. Same thing, Magic City video. My father, he passed away from HIV. I think in this area, in this culture, what has happened is there's been overcommercialization of sex because sex sells and that brings tourism. I heard, fuck me like a dog, repeating multiple times. Wait, don't you? Take my clothes off, fuck me, fuck me like a dog.