SARASOTA – Despite medical advances over the past years, the stigma, shame and taboo surrounding HIV remains, but one Suncoast organization is striving to change that, while one of their prior patients is devoted to the cause.
“Our first thought was we were going to die and that was what the question was, when are we going to die?,” said Medical Peer Navigator Team Lead at CAN Community Health, Debbie Sergi-Laws.
Debbie Sergi-Laws has served as a medical peer navigator at CAN Community Health for over 20 years
“I assist patients with navigating how to take care of themselves, how to stay well, how to stay on their medications and be adherent to their appointments, I’ve been doing it for a very, very long time and I have a lot of personal experience with it,” said Sergi-Laws.
Sergi-Laws, a Registered Nurse by profession was taken by surprise when she was diagnosed with HIV in 1989.
“It was not expected, it was a life insurance test my husband had, and then we found out that he had it and then we had out that I had it,” said Sergi-Laws.
After the diagnosis, the married couple, who were living in Virginia at the time decided to move to Sarasota
“Instead of retiring in Sarasota, we went on disability because we were starting to have symptoms and there was no treatment,” said Sergi-Laws.
After revealing her diagnosis, Sergi-Laws was fired as a registered nurse, and quickly lost hope of ever having children.
“We thought we were going to die, it was emotionally horrible, it just gave me goosebumps now and it’s been all these years,” said Sergi-Laws.
It wasn’t until the couple found CAN Community Health, where they received services for several years until her husband’s symptoms progressed rapidly and he lost the bottle to HIV four years after his diagnosis. She later found her purpose and after years of being a patient at CAN, she decided to come out of retirement to help educate others about HIV, as she says stereotypes would never pin a straight woman having the disease.
“I was having mutual sex with a husband, trying to get pregnant and that’s how I got it so that could be anybody, this disease does not discriminate,” said Sergi-Laws.
CAN Community Health offers free HIV and STI testing. For more information about CAN, you can visit their website here.
