The fact is that there is no cure for AIDS, and one may not be found “within our lifetime or our children’s lifetime”, according to Marcianna Shogan, Director of Community Relations and Development for the Southwest Louisiana AIDS Council (SLAC).
“AIDS is still a big problem in this country,” said Shogan at Wednesday’s meeting of the Sulphur Kiwanis Club.
As of March 31, 2008, according to a quarterly report published by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, there were 27,744 cumulative HIV/AIDS cases, 302 of which involved children; 11,705 cumulative AIDS-related deaths, 98 of which were children; and 15,795 persons living with HIV/AIDS, 52 percent of them with AIDS. Louisiana ranked fifth highest in the nation in AIDS case rates and 12th in the number of AIDS cases diagnosed according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2006 HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report (Vol. 18). 
The SLAC, located at 1715 Common Street in Lake Charles, was founded in 1987 as a safe haven for individuals impacted by HIV/AIDS and to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Southwest Louisiana through programs of client services, prevention and education and community relations and development.
“AIDS is preventable. It is really preventable,” said Shogan.
“Education and empowerment is absolutely crucial.”
 The organization administers a wide range of activities to address the multiple needs of their clients. Programs include case management, buddy/companions, prescription reimbursement, emergency financial assistance, a food pantry, temporary housing, mental health services, oral health care, substance abuse treatment and support (which is a new and developing program), transportation, a Consumer Advisory Council, consortium support, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), and Medicaid HIV case management.
“Our mission is very simple, it is to provide education to the people of Southwest Louisiana about HIV/AIDS and HIV prevention and to offer assistance to those affected by the disease,” said Shogan.
“This agency offers more programs than any other in the state,” she continued.
They also work to prevent the spread of HIV, AIDS, and STDs by administering state-funded programs, facilitating education and promoting well being. Prevention programs include national HIV testing days, community events, venue based outreach, counseling, testing, referrals and prevention material availability. Community education programs include HIV/AIDS 101 Basic, a thirty minute presentation that is an overview of HIV/AIDS and can be generic or abstinence based; HIV/STD 101, a forty-five minute presentation with visuals of STDs and prevention material demonstrations; HIV/STD 101 Inservice, a forty-five minute presentation that covers HIV basics while providing insight on target populations, transmission trends and statistical data. Curriculum based education programs include BART, an eight hour program for at-risk youth (juvenile detention centers and emergency shelters for youth), and BARA, an eight hour program for high-risk adults (prisons and half-way houses). Prison based education programs include one for pre-release, which is a two to six hour training on infectious diseases such as HIV, AIDS, STIs, Hepatitits and Tuberculosis; and ROTO, a peer training program for inmates.
If someone needs testing, SLAC offers a rapid test. Whereas before a test could take up to two weeks to return a result, testing now can give you results in twenty minutes and be 99.9 percent correct, according to Shogan. If the test returns back positive, a conventional test is then used to confirm. The SLAC team tests in the community at venue-based outreaches and offers free testing at their office from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. It is all confidential.
“It is key that somebody knows if they are infected,” said Shogan.
“We are there to help people, not to make them feel bad about a slip they may have had,” said Shogan.“ The overwhelming majority of people we test are negative.”
Recently, SLAC announced it’s partnership with the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco Free Living (TFL) of the state’s Public Health Institute through a grant which will enable SLAC to integrate the (TFL) message in the agency’s extensive programs of outreach and education. It will emphasize this message in it’s existing community programs, “Becoming a Responsible Adult” and “Becoming a Responsible Teen” and in it’s HIV positive support groups, “Being Well” and “Living Well”. The agency’s case management program will also begin to provide their HIV positive clients with a consistent flow of information regarding tobacco use cessation and prevention.
The organization is also currently inviting all area artists to submit an HIV/AIDS-inspired work to be displayed at a special exhibit at 1911 City Hall in Lake Charles leading up to it’s annual fundraising event, Ribbons of Hope Gala and Auction, which will occur in later in the year.
All genres of art will be considered including paintings, etchings, drawings, photographs and sculptures. An opening reception will kickoff the exhibit which will run the month of November through December 1, World AIDS Day. The deadline for submissions is September 15.