IN MEMORIAM: SKIP HARRIS

Hemophilia/HIV activist Skip Harris died on May 17. His death is a serious loss to both the AIDS and hemophilia communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. AIDS TREATMENT NEWS had interviewed Mr. Harris and published his remarks in our last issue, in an article addressing the challenges faced by people with both hemophilia and HIV. When asked what he would like to see in the future for each community, Skip responded:
"I'd want much more education disseminated through all the local chapters of the Hemophilia Council ... secondly, the government needs to fulfill a commitment to make treatment available. This year treatment was finally the recipient of some of the giant fundraising benefits. For a long time I found it very disturbing that AIDS prevention was the only idea addressed by those benefits, never AIDS treatment. The Reagan administration's policy toward AIDS very deliberately was to write off those who were already infected ... Bush has talked more about treatment but hasn't put his money where his mouth is. I really think the value of coalitions will grow in the future, coalitions of all the communities affected by HIV ... what happens with health care will make or break this country."
Skip also worked with us as a board member of the Community Research Alliance.

IN MEMORIAM: DON GORMAN

Don Gorman's name has not appeared in AIDS TREATMENT NEWS, but without him there would have been no newsletter. Over five years ago John James approached the newly formed Mobilization Against AIDS, and asked how he could help by researching and writing articles. Mobilization suggested calling the Documentation of AIDS Issues and Research Foundation, Inc. (DAIR) -- a group which had evolved from a documentation and library committee within Mobilization. Don Gorman, the president of DAIR, suggested writing articles about experimental treatments -- and provided the names of about a dozen treatments of interest. He published our first article in April 1986 in the newsletter DAIR Update, then introduced us to the San Francisco Sentinel, where our articles appeared every two weeks. AIDS TREATMENT NEWS began several months later; the DAIR Update article, on AL 721, appears today as issue #1.
Don's DAIR Foundation also provided critical support for the early development of Project Inform.
As a registered nurse, Don approached AIDS information as a person with AIDS, an activist, and one trained in medical management. He published articles about medical management, especially about pneumocystis and the availability of aerosol pentamidine, early in the epidemic.
The DAIR Foundation, which maintains AIDS archives open to the public and prepares reports to support AIDS organizations, continues today in San Francisco; it can be reached at 415/552-1665. Anyone who could volunteer time to help continue Don's work is encouraged to get in touch.