Jeff at Swedish Hospital - Seattle
Jamie at home
Jeff knows Swedish Hospital. It's part of his life. At the end of 2001 there were 40,000,000 people living with AIDS globally. There were five million new HIV infections last year. Only a fraction of these people have access to modern health care, and of those who do a fraction have access to the most effective AIDS medications.
Jamie has been infected since the times of GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency) in the late 70's. Part of the reason Jamie is alive was his acceptance of death. He didn't go to the doctor or take medication at the time that AZT was developed. Many patients died of AZT prescriptions 1,000's of times higher than today's doses. Jamie sees his doctor regularly and takes the myriad of pills known as "the cocktail" now.