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Anniston Star Article - December 1, 2008
Karen's passion: Annual World AIDS Day walk named as memorial to local advocate
By Brett Buckner
Staff Writer
Julie Hope, left, and Kelli Lasseter hold a framed photograph of Karen Morris outside of Health Services Center in Hobson City. Morris, a local AIDs advocate, died on Sept. 20. Photo: Bill Wilson/The A nniston Star
There is an almost imperceptible silence that looms over the Health Services Center in Hobson City, the area's only HIV clinic.
Though daily operations remain unchanged — employees pace frantically down the halls while a steady stream of clients, both new and familiar, wait anxiously in metal chairs — something is missing.
It's a lone voice, a gruff Northern twang. It's an infectious burst of laughter and an inspiring spirit. What's missing is Karen Morris.
For six years, Morris was one of the clinic's most visible advocates for AIDS awareness and patients' rights. She educated students at The Donoho School and Jacksonville High School simply by standing in their presence, living proof that looks weren't only deceiving — they could be deadly.
"She put a face on the disease," says Julie Hope, director of education and outreach for the clinic, "showing that people with HIV look just like everybody else.
"Every day we find new reasons to miss her." On Sept. 20, Morris went to the emergency room of Regional Medical Center complaining of chest pain. Within a few hours, she died of a massive heart attack. She was 57 years old.
"It was all very sudden," says her mother, Geraldine Morris. "The good Lord decided there were some things he needed her to do. I still miss her terribly." It's not how she died but rather how Karen Morris lived that matters most. Her mission was AIDS awareness, alerting people to the dangers of unprotected sex.
"I think she'd laugh," Hope says, "flash that grin of hers and say, 'Nobody needs to remember me. They need to remember to wear a condom.'"
But she will be remembered. The Karen Morris Memorial World AIDS Day Walk will be today at 5:15 p.m. at Anniston First United Methodist Church. It will serve as a fitting tribute to someone known for fearless compassion, fierce determination and impatience with the bureaucracy of health care.
"Karen was the type of person who would come to the table, listening to people talk and talk," says Kelli Lasseter, PeaPLE First project director for the clinic and long-time friend. "The more people talked, the more frustrated she got. She wanted to be out there doing, putting things into action. "And that's what she did every day of her life."
Even in a crowd of advocates — whether it was in a community planning meeting, standing up in front of an auditorium of wide-eyed students or marching behind a World AIDS Day banner — there was no denying Karen Morris. With her arms covered in dangling red wristbands and wearing T-shirts with slogans like "Annoy them … Survive," Morris was outspoken without saying a word.
But she wasn't always so straightforward. Tom Robertson, who is responsible for the state Health Department's local AIDS prevention and education activities, remembers meeting Morris several years ago as a peer counselor. Part of her duties included working with newly diagnosed patients to help guide them through the system. "She used to be reserved," he says. "But over the years, I watched her grow in confidence and passion. Karen was comfortable talking about her life and not wanting people to make the same mistakes she did."
'It was like stepping back in time'
In 1997, while living in Wilmington, Del., Morris thought she had cancer. After losing more than 50 pounds in a matter of months, she went to the doctor, who found a fibroid tumor on her uterus. The doctor took a biopsy and almost as an afterthought asked if Morris would like an HIV test. The biopsy was negative. The HIV test was positive.
"Since 1991," Morris said in a 2006 interview, "I'd had one steady boyfriend, so HIV and AIDS were not something I'd ever worried about." But sometime around 1996 when she and her boyfriend were on the outs, Morris met up with an old friend. That night, she had unprotected sex with someone she trusted, someone she thought was safe, someone who looked healthy.
That one decision changed the course of Morris' life. But her advocacy didn't find its genesis until she came to Calhoun County in 2001 to take care of her ailing parents. Suddenly, she was surrounded by people afraid to touch or sit near someone with HIV. "It was like stepping back in time … like being in the 1800s," she said. "They didn't want to hear the word, let alone be around someone with the disease. It was like how people used to treat lepers."
Today, schools across the county will be hosting World AIDS Day programs. And, while one of the most valuable and outspoken local messengers has been silenced, the message itself cannot be forgotten.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 1 in 5 people living with HIV are unaware of their infections. All told, the CDC estimates that there are some 232,000 people in the United States who don't know they're infected. That's the reality Karen Morris worked to change and prevent. Though she died, Morris' mission lives on in the hearts of all who knew her. "I would not trade one moment, even knowing one day that we would lose her," Lasseter says. "I believe that there are people who come into your life — and it may be brief — but they leave their mark. "We don't realize how important they are until they're gone."
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Karen Morris Memorial World AIDS Day Walk
When: 5:15 p.m. today
Where: The Bridge at First United Methodist Church, Anniston, 15th Street and Gurnee Avenue
What: A World AIDS Day program, featuring Rep. Barbara Boyd will take place at 6 p.m. following the walk.
More info: For more information, call Julie Hope at Health Services Center, 832-0100.
Stats on HIV/AIDS
• The Alabama Department of Public Health estimates there are 15,683 reported cases of HIV/AIDS in Alabama, including 278 cases in Calhoun County alone.
• Calhoun County numbers of reported cases have steadily increased, up from 84 in 1996, to 149 in 2002 and 180 in 2006.
• More than 1 million people in the United States live with HIV/AIDS.
• Approximately 40,000 new cases are diagnosed nationwide each year.
• Despite representing little more than one-third of the U.S. population, the South (designated as 17 states from Texas to Delaware) accounts for 46 percent of all new AIDS cases diagnosed each year.
• While the number of new AIDS cases in the United States remained relatively stable between 2000-2004, increasing less than 1 percent, new cases in the South increased 9 percent.
• In 25 years, AIDS, now a global pandemic, has killed more than 20 million people and infected 65 million more, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. By way of comparison, the Black Death killed 34 million in the 14th century.
• In 2005 alone, AIDS killed between 2.8 million and 3.6 million people worldwide, about 570,000 were children.
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