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My name is Bill Yarber. I'm the Senior Director of the Rural Center for AIDS/STD
Prevention.
This is a joint project of Indiana University, University of Colorado, and University of Kentucky.
We have established the Ryan White Distinguished Leadership Award.
That award was established in 2009,
and Jeanne White
Ginder, Ryan's mother, was the first recipient
and we're here today to present it to C Everett Koop,
M.D.
Ryan was a thirteen-year-old
typical Indiana
rural youth
who contracted *** from
tainted blood products for treatment of his hemophilia
and during the times afterwards he was
harrassed. He was isolated at school, taunted,
and he received a lot of difficulties with public acceptance of
his condition
and throughout all of this he remained courageous.
He remained determined,
and Ryan's vision was to increase AIDS awareness
and also to end discrimination and stigma for persons with ***/AIDS.
Throughout all this difficulty there was enormous media attention
and actually he became a hero for many people
in the country.
Before his death on April 8, 1990,
he became well-known and
he had, in his efforts to increase AIDS awareness,
soon after his death
the Ryan White
Care Act was established.
This act was the largest single Federal effort to
provide resources for persons with ***/AIDS.
Before his death he spoke to many schools and communities.
He and his mother traveled around the country as spokespersons for
***/AIDS.
Ryan had planned to attend Indiana University in Bloomington
but his death occurred before that and within a few weeks here
we will be celebrating his twentieth -
the twentieth anniversary of the death
of Ryan.
His legacy continues on and one way we continue his legacy
is to recognize outstanding contributions through this award.
In honor of the legacy of Ryan White, the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention has established
the Ryan White Distinguish Leadership Award
and this award is presented
for individuals for outstanding contribution to ***/AIDS.
Today we will be presenting it to Dr. Koop. Before we do that
Jeanne White Ginder, Ryan's mother, has a picture and some words to say to Dr. Koop.
This is a picture of
Dr. Koop, Surgeon General Koop and Ryan White in 1988
and it is such a privilege to see you again.
You were such
a blessing in our lives
when you came forth, when the political figures were not doing so, acknowledging this disease
and you said Ryan White, this boy, should be in school.
So I want to thank you and it's so wonderful to see you again.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the people living with *** and AIDS
today even. You've made a difference in everybody's lives. (Thank you.)
This award is given today to Dr. Koop
for his outstanding contribution to the ***/ AIDS prevention.
They're very few people that have done the courageous things that you did in your Surgeon General's
report
and your pamphlet that went out to almost every household the United States,
Understanding AIDS.
We admire the courageous efforts that you have -
that you did - and that certainly made a big difference in our efforts to control *** and
AIDS.
Certainly it's an honor for the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention to present you this
award
and I'm going to read what the award says before Jeanne presents it to you.
The Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention at Indiana University
presents to Dr. C Everett Koop M.D.,
Doctor of Science
the Ryan White Leadership -
Distinguished Leadership Award
in appreciation of your numerous
outstanding contributions
to ***/AIDS prevention
and for being an exemplary bearer of the standard of excellence and commitment
needed to combat ***/AIDS,
March, the 17th, 2010,
Hanover, New Hampshire.
Jeanne, could you present that to Dr. Koop?
(Thank you very much.) Congratulations.
Thank you.
Dr. Koop, you may recall June 2, excuse me, June 5
1981
was that infamous CDC report
in the Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report
about five young men in Los Angeles who
were diagnosed with a rare pneumonia,
pneumocystis pneumonia,
and that really brought attention I think to many people in the country
about possibly what might be occurring
and of course it wasn't known as AIDS at that time
but that report came out a few months before you were actually sworn in as Surgeon General
in November of 81
but when you became Surgeon General
did you ever imagine that you would have to face such a major health problem such as AIDS?
No sir I never imagined it but I can tell you
if ever there was a disease
made for the Surgeon General it, was AIDS
and
you have to remember
on that day that you talk about the first report from MMWR
no one ever heard of AIDS before.
We didn't even have a name for AIDS.
The government
had no position but
this is very important,
the cabinet
of the President of the United States had a position, not the President,
but the cabinet
and it was this - who
gets AIDS - promiscuous women,
homosexual men,
IV drug abusers,
people who were pregnant and shouldn't be -
don't they deserve what they get
and that was,
if you want to say it, the official word that you would get
if a member of the cabinet
talked to you about AIDS.
I was the only person in the public health service who had ever seen a case of
pneumocystis pneumonia
and in my job as a
pediatric surgeon
when you have to diagnose that pneumonia by an actual lung biopsy
I saw them all of time. Well,
you'd think that would get me maybe that much
[inaudible] with these guys?
I had questions immediately because shortly after that
they came back and reported twenty
young men
with another disease
and I was the only person
that ever saw that
but I raised a question.
And this should be history.
I raised a question and I said
I know nothing about
what we're talking but
I do know this
if you are
discussing a new disease
that is contracted by homosexuals
you have one huge
load on your hands because of forced sodomy in prisons
and I said the public health service as you know
has control
of the federal prisoners
and we have no preparation whatsoever
if there is a connection.
Well, you know,
they laughed at that
and a couple years later
just the people leaving the DC jail had 70% positivity for AIDS.
If I'm describing to you something that seems very chaotic
it was.
It was.
Is that the way you would characterize the failure of the government's response
after that
CDC report came out.
Yes.
So how were you able
then as the deaths from AIDS mounted - you were
really the highest offical
in Washington DC that actually mentioned AIDS, the first person
to really talk about it
what kind of barriers did you have to overcome to do that?
Well, lots of public
ones and a few private
ones and
I believe
in filling holes and
when people
leave government and
there's nobody appointed
to do the job
I stepped in and did it
because
I don't see -
I was the new kid on the block; I didn't even know the rules.
(Sure.) You don't do that but I did it
and pretty soon
people had confidence
in what I said
and they know I never lied to them
and I not only
told them
about
how you get AIDS
but how you don't get AIDS
because you remember
this was an era in which
people didn't know how you contracted AIDS and they thought you got it from
[inaudible], computer keyboards, [inaudible] and
we had a wonderful study
on hemophiliac
people who had grown up together
and who lived together
and we found that they shared towels,
6% shared toothbrushes,
that all sorts of things were shared and there was no contamination and no
passage of the disease - gave us,
gave me tremendous authority when I said it doesn't do it that way you know
So, in those early days, in the early years as Surgeon General I'll bet a lot of times did you
feel alone in your voice?
Sure I felt alone and
you know I didn't have anybody
standing on the sidelines saying
go get 'em boy. (Sure. Right) As a matter of fact
people in the cabinet were
really opposed to me
and
this is pure speculation
but I bet Ronald Reagan
had more
requests
to fire me than any other member of his government.
Well, certainly
you know the things that you did in your report, the Surgeon General's report I think
really established
the importance of science - what science says about
disease transmission.
In this report you talk about sex education
for young people. You discussed condoms.
I mean those were really, sort of very unique things at that time.
What led you to publish that report?