DURHAM, NC – Some blue whales off the coast of California change their behavior when exposed to the sort of underwater sounds used during U.S. military exercises. The whales may alter diving behavior or temporarily avoid important feeding areas, according to new research.
The Southern California Behavioral Response Study exposed tagged blue whales in the California Bight to simulated mid-frequency (3.5-4 kHz) sonar sounds significantly less intense than the military uses.
“Whales clearly respond in some conditions by modifying diving behavior and temporarily avoiding areas where sounds were produced,” said lead author Jeremy Goldbogen of Cascadia Research. “But overall the responses are complex and depend on a number of interacting factors,” including whether the whales were feeding deep, shallow or not at all.
The study, funded by the U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Environmental Readiness Division and the U.S. Office of Naval Research, appears July 3 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The scientists tagged the whales with non-invasive suction cups, which recorded acoustic data and high-resolution movements as the animals were exposed to the controlled sounds.
“The tag technology we use offers a unique glimpse into the underwater behavior of whales that otherwise would not be possible,” said Ari Friedlaender, a research scientist at the Duke Marine Laboratory.
The scientists found that some of the whales engaged in deep feeding stopped eating and either sped up or moved away from the source of the noise. Not all of the whales responded to the noise, and not all in the same way.
“Blue whales are the largest animals that have ever lived. Populations globally remain at a fraction of their former numbers prior to whaling, and they appear regularly off the southern California coast, where they feed,” said John Calambokidis, one of the project’s lead investigators of Cascadia Research.
That area of the ocean is also the site of military training and testing exercises that involve loud mid-frequency sonar signals. Such sonar exercises have been associated with several unusual strandings of other marine mammal species (typically beaked whales) in the past. Until this study, almost no information was available about whether and how blue whales respond to sonar.
“These are the first direct measurements of individual responses for any baleen whale species to these kinds of mid-frequency sonar signals,” said Brandon Southall, SOCAL-BRS chief scientist from SEA, Inc., and an adjunct researcher at both Duke and the University of California Santa Cruz. “These findings help us understand risks to these animals from human sound and inform timely conservation and management decisions.”
A related paper published July 3 by the same research team in Biology Letters has shown clear and even stronger responses of Cuvierâs beaked whales to simulated mid-frequency sonar exposures. Beaked whales showed a variety of responses to both real, military sonar in the distance and nearby simulated sonar. What the beaked whales were doing at the time appeared to be a key factor affecting their reactions.
A Pacific Northwest summer tradition – Rock Out Under the Stars at Tulalip Amphitheatre
Tulalip, Washington — Tulalip Resort Casino is known for celebrating tradition, and one of the Pacific Northwest’s warm weather rituals is enjoying entertainment under the stars at the Four-Diamond resort’s outdoor Amphitheatre. Featuring 7 summer concerts at the intimate 3,000 seat venue with an incredible sightline, the concert stage is set for a variety of arts and entertainment options to intrigue every kind of musical enthusiast. The summer of 2013’s line-up is a memorable one – it includes Grammy and Academy Award winners, artists and music icons who have continually topped the charts.Sunday, July 21: Gretchen Wilson & Clay Walker
Gretchen Wilson has had 13 hit singles on the Billboard country charts, 5 reaching the Top 10.
With 31 titles on Billboard, Clay Walker boasts 4 platinum and 2 gold albums.
Sunday, July 28: Peter Frampton & Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Frampton is one of the most celebrated guitarists in rock history; Shepherd is a young blues guitarist who has sold millions of albums.
Thursday, August 15: Sammy Hagar
The “Red Rocker”, an American music icon, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen.
Sunday, August 18: Melissa Etheridge
Rock singer, songwriter, guitarist, winner of an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Double Grammy Winner.
Sunday, August 25: Foreigner
This British-American band is one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time. Mick Jones and Lou Gramm were just inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Saturday, September 7: Doobie Brothers & America
The Doobie Brothers have been inducted into the Vocal Hall of Fame with hits like “Listen to the Music”; Grammy winners America has charted No. 1 hits like “A Horse with No Name” and “Sister Golden Hair”.
Tulalip Resort Casino also offers guest room/up close ticket packages. Both reserved seating and general admission concert tickets are available and can be purchased in person at the Tulalip Resort Casino Rewards Club box office located on the casino floor, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Unless otherwise noted, the doors open at 5pm and concerts start at 7pm for all shows. All concert dates and times are subject to change. Guests must be 21 and over to attend.
Is your child up to date? Vaccines required for school are available to children at no cost
Source: Snohomish Health District
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. –– More 5 and 6 year olds in Snohomish County had all the vaccines they needed to enter school last year, according to recent data released by the state Department of Health. For the 2012-2013 school year, 86.3 percent of local kindergarteners were up to date on their shots, better than past years and higher than the state average of 85.6 percent
Vaccines are required for school children because they prevent disease in a community setting. The rate of vaccination has continued to climb since an all-time low in 2008-2009
School districts report vaccination rates to the state. The highest immunization rates for all grades (K-12) in Snohomish County last school year were in Lakewood (94.8%) and Everett (94.7%) school districts.
A small percentage of families seek exemption from the vaccination requirement, an average of 5.3 percent in Snohomish County schools compared to 4.5 percent statewide for children entering kindergarten.
In 2011 the process for parents or guardians to exempt their child from school or child care immunization requirements was changed. Parents need to see a medical provider to get a signature on the Certificate of Exemption form for their child’s school. More information about the form and the law is available online at www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Immunize.
Although exemptions are allowed for medical, religious, or personal reasons, the best disease protection is to make sure children have all their recommended immunizations. Children may be sent home from school, preschool, or child care during outbreaks of diseases if they have not been immunized.
Summer is a good time to make sure your children are up to date on required shots. The cost of childhood vaccines is subsidized by federal and state government so that every parent can choose to have their child protected without regard to cost.
Required childhood vaccines are available for the school year 2013-2014.
· Two doses of chickenpox (varicella) vaccine or doctor-verified history of disease is required for age kindergarten through grade 5. Students in grade 6 are required to have one dose of varicella or parental history of disease.
· The whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine, Tdap, is required for students in grades 6-12 who are 11 years and older.
Recommended vaccines also are available.
· Varicella vaccine for children in grades 7-12 who have never had chickenpox.
· Meningococcal vaccine for adolescents age 11-12. A second (booster) dose at age 16-18 if first dose was given at ages 11-15.
· A three-shot series of human papillomavirus (HPV) for both adolescent boys and girls age 11 and older.
· Children 12 months and older should receive hepatitis A vaccine, a two-shot series.
· Flu vaccine for all people age 6 months and older.
Snohomish Health District promotes routine vaccination of children and adults.
Snohomish Health District’s Immunization Clinic will serve you if your family does not have a health care provider. A visit to a Health District clinic includes a check of your child’s record in the Washington Immunization Information System, the state’s immunization registry.
Parents should beat the rush by making appointments now with their child’s health care provider. At the Health District, parents can make an appointment during normal clinic hours at either the Lynnwood or Everett office.
A parent or legal guardian must accompany a child to the clinic, and must bring a complete record of the child’s immunizations. You need to fill out a Snohomish Health District authorization form to have another person bring your child to the clinic. Ask the clinic staff to mail or fax a form to you.
Health District clinics request payment on the day of service in cash, check, debit, or credit card. Medical coupons are accepted, but private insurance is not. The cost can include an office visit fee, plus an administration fee per vaccine. Reduced fees are available by filling out a request based on household size and income.
Teens also occasionally require travel vaccines for out-of-country mission work or community service. The Health District offers those immunizations and health advice for traveling in foreign countries.
Please call if you have questions, concerns or to schedule an appointment: SHD Immunization Clinic 425.339.5220.
Read more about the state’s vaccine requirements for school-age children and child care. Find more information about Washington’s school immunization data.
Established in 1959, the Snohomish Health District works for a safer and healthier community through disease
prevention, health promotion, and protection from environmental threats. Find more information about the Health District at www.snohd.org.
Back-to-school shots hours:
SHD Everett Immunization Clinic, 3020 Rucker Ave, Suite 108, Everett, WA 98201
425.339.5220
By appointment: 8 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. Monday-Wednesday-Friday
Announcement of a Tuberculosis (TB) History Project in Snohomish County
The TB Voices Project for Snohomish County is looking for persons to share their tuberculosis (TB) stories with the community. Whether you or a loved one had TB, your story is important. Share your story on our website or contact us for a recorded interview.
The purpose of the TB Voices Project is to allow individuals from all generations throughout the county to tell their TB story, and in turn, these stories can help persons around the globe currently impacted by TB.
For more information go to www.Tbphotovoice.org or contact Project Director, Teresa Rugg at 360.862.9034, twrugg@frontier.com.
The TB Voices Project for Snohomish and King County is a project of TB Photovoice, in partnership with the Firland Foundation. Since 2006, TB Photovoice (based in Snohomish) has worked around the world to amplify the voices of individuals directly impacted by TB so that they, as well as their communities, can improve their overall health.
U.S. President Barack Obama with the Navy’s F/A-18 Green Hornet. Photo: Official U.S. Navy Imagery/ CC by 2.0
By Lucy Wescott, Inter Press Service
The United States military, an organisation that consumes 90 percent of the country’s federal oil allowance, is trying to become a greener institution.
The U.S. Navy has said that by 2016 it will run one of its 11 carrier strike groups using biofuel. In a test run of the new approach in the Pacific Ocean, a novel mixture of jet fuel, algae and cooking grease powered FA-18 Super Hornets, a type of fighter aircraft.
Within a decade, half of the Air Force and Navy’s fuel needs will be met by alternative energy sources, according to Christopher Merrill, director of the International Writer’s Program at the University of Iowa.
Merrill, who penned an essay for Orion Magazine titled ‘The Future of War‘, suggested that with climate change posing an increasing threat to U.S. national security, another name for this pioneering strike group could be the Great Green Fleet.
The military also believes that the threat of climate change to U.S. security is not simply a temporary trend, Merrill said.
“I don’t view this as a one-off thing, I view this as somebody trying to look into the future, trying to figure out what (we) are going to have to do to defend the country,” Merrill said.
Climate change and security
In 2010, the Department of Defence recognised in its Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR) that climate change and energy will both play “significant roles in the future security environment”.
The report rendered the effect of climate disasters difficult to ignore: last year was the second most expensive year on record for the United States, with 11 weather-related natural disasters costing over 110 billion dollars in damages.
Marcus King, associate research professor of international affairs at the George Washington University, believes that threats from climate change would affect not only the United States through phenomena such as sea-level rise and droughts but the rest of the world as well.
The United States ought to be concerned that other nations, including U.S. allies, “could be constrained because they don’t have (the) adaptive capacity (to deal with climate change),” King told IPS.
“Once you look at global climate change as a threat, Africa has the least resistance…(and) it’s of strategic importance to the U.S.,” King said.
The Department of Defence recognised the potential increase in the Navy’s response to disasters abroad, reporting in the QDR that climate change is one factor “whose complex interplay may spark or exacerbate future conflicts”, along with cultural tensions and new strains of diseases.
Good PR?
But Leah Bolger, formerly with the U.S. Navy and now a peace activist, believes the green move to be more a publicity stunt than a progressive statement signalling changing times.
“I spent my (twenty) years in the military ambivalent about what the military policies were in foreign policy. It was a job…I didn’t really question my part in the military machine,” Bolger told IPS.
Now, however, Bolger called the Navy’s decision to make one carrier strike group green by 2016 “laughable”.
“(The green move is) like a page out of a PR book – something they can put out in their public affairs office to say, ‘We’re so mindful of the environment,’” Bolger said.
Still, one additional advantage of the green move is that the potential demand for alternative fuels could create a new market, Merrill told IPS. Already tax credits are being granted to wind farms, according to him.
“Once that market gets established, it’s likely that you’ll see the kind of innovations that came in the wake of the invention of the Internet,” he predicted.
Nevertheless, a change in the military’s energy consumption doesn’t necessarily mean a change in the behaviour of Americans, who consumed 19 percent of the world’s total energy resources in 2010, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, despite comprising around five percent of the global population.
Even if Americans knew about the Great Green Fleet, Bolger said, it wouldn’t do much to change their habits.
While the Great Green Fleet doesn’t necessarily improve the operational abilities of the Navy, the impetus is noble, King said. “If they have the ability to create demand (for alternative fuels)… I think that’s great, as long as it’s consistent with national security, which it is.”
Earthquakes equal to or bigger than magnitude 3.0 in the United States between 2009 and 2012. The background colors indicating earthquake risk are from the U.S. National Seismic Hazard Map. CREDIT: Science/AAAS
By Becky Oskin, Staff Writer
July 11, 2013
Two new studies of earthquakes near injection wells have seismologists using words rarely heard these days in earthquake science: prediction and warning.
The research has also renewed calls for better seismic monitoring and reporting in regions experiencing man-made earthquakes.
“Shale gas operations have completely changed our energy policy and people are injecting in places they’ve never injected before. If we’re going to do this safely, we need to address the environmental issues, including protecting water supplies and earthquake risk,” said Cliff Frohlich, a seismologist at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics who was not involved in the new studies.
The two reports appear in today’s (July 11) issue of the journal Science.
Links between injection and earthquakes
In the Midwest, researchers discovered a warning signal that moderate-sized earthquakes may strike near injection wells, where mining companies dispose of waste fluids. At three sites in Oklahoma, Colorado and Texas, passing seismic waves from faraway earthquakes — the recent massive temblors in Japan, Sumatra and Chile — triggered swarms of small earthquakes. The seismic activity continued until magnitude-4 and magnitude-5 earthquakes struck, such as the large earthquakes near Prague, Okla., in November 2011. [7 Craziest Ways Japan’s Earthquake Affected Earth]
“We’ve been telling our operators for some time that this is one of the warning signs to look for,” said Austin Holland, a seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey who was not involved in the study. “If you see remote triggering of your wells, it’s a clear indication that your faults are right at the failure point. It just took a little tickle, if you will, to trigger the earthquakes.”
In a separate study, researchers documented a clear link between earthquakes and production, or removing and injecting underground fluid, at Southern California’s Salton Sea Geothermal Field power plant. Every 500 million gallons of water pumped out of the ground caused one detectable earthquake per 11 days, according to the report.
“The thing that best predicted the earthquake rate was the net amount of water extracted from the ground,” said Emily Brodsky, lead study author and a seismologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Scientists have long known that geothermal projects can trigger earthquakes, but some communities are wary of the seismic risk. Construction on a geothermal energy plant in Basel, Switzerland, was shut down in 2009 after fluid injection triggered earthquakes up to magnitude 3.4. Brodsky’s study offers a new statistical model for predicting how many earthquakes to expect at a geothermal plant, based on the amount of fluid going in and out of the ground.
“This paper has made a very direct and compelling correlation between the net of fluid out and fluid in and the rate at which these small earthquakes are happening,” said William Ellsworth, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Science Center, who was not involved in the study. “This seems like a very promising way of applying this particular statistical model.”
Remotely triggered warnings
Many scientists also suspect a link between mining-related wastewater injection wells and a barrage of earthquakes in the central and eastern United States in the past decade. The surge outpaced natural background trends starting in 2001, according to a review by Ellsworth also published today in Science. But proving a cause-and-effect has been difficult for researchers, who lack the evidence for a slam-dunk case. Outside of California, there are few dense seismic networks to precisely locate small earthquakes, and injection well data is not immediately available.
Discovering earthquake warning signals in the Midwest, before the larger, more damaging temblors, was possible only through a temporary, massive seismic monitoring network called the USArray. The explosion in shale gas exploration also helped, because remote triggering is most common in places with high fluid pressure, such as geothermal fields, hot springs and the estimated 100,000 injection wells in the United States. [Top 10 Alternative Energy Bets]
A quick reminder: Fracking itself doesn’t cause felt earthquakes. Injecting fluids into the ground (as happens with the wastewater from fracking) spawns man-made earthquakes. The added fluids increase pore pressure on a fault’s surface, unclamping the fault and making it easier to slip.
“The fluids are weakening the fault,” said Nicholas van der Elst, a seismologist at Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in New York and lead author of the remote-triggering study. More than 50 years of controlled and unintentional experiments have proved the link.
But even with a better seismic network, remotely triggered earthquakes are of limited use as warning signals. First, not all regions with possible man-made earthquakes also had remotely triggered earthquake swarms. Second, only one earthquake every year, on average, is big enough to send seismic waves rippling across Earth’s surface.
“The trouble with using this for forecasting is that the huge earthquakes that are triggering earthquakes are extremely rare,” Frohlich said. “We’ve had three in the last few years, but that’s an unusual rate. In the last 50 years, we’ve only had maybe a dozen earthquakes that big.”
The three sites with earthquake “sirens” were Prague, Okla., Synder, Tex., and Trinidad, Colo. Each saw a spike in seismic activity near injection wells within 24 hours of huge earthquakes in Chile in 2010, Japan in 2011 or Sumatra in 2012. The number of quakes increased until a magnitude-4 or magnitude-5 earthquake hit, includingOklahoma’s strongest recorded earthquake.
“I think this [study] shows that fluid pressure is really driving these earthquakes,” Van der Elst said. “Stress has been increased by the injection of all this fluid in these regions where people have suggested a connection between wells and earthquakes.
“The big implication in this is that remote triggering could act as a stress probe. You could look for remote triggering to anticipate large induced earthquakes,” Van der Elst said.
Better seismic monitoring needed
But well operators are already aware that upticks in seismicity near their injection sites are a warning sign that a larger quake could strike, Holland said. Some companies operate their own seismic networks to monitor wells, he added. “The idea of controlling your injection parameters based on the seismicity you’re observing has been around for 30 or 40 years,” he said.
In his Science review, Ellsworth recommends seismic monitoring of wells to improve understanding of man-made earthquakes and help regulators set seismic activity thresholds that limit injection if there are too many small quakes.
“We need better seismic monitoring so we can see the small earthquakes, and I would also like to have more information about the actual disposal process,” Ellsworth said. “Right now, all that’s required is monthly reporting, and that’s not adequate to build geophysical and geological models of the [earthquake] process.” Regulators developing new laws and reporting requirements also need much more timely and better information, Ellsworth said.
In response to Oklahoma’s recent uptick in earthquakes, the Oklahoma Geological Survey is doubling and modernizing its seismic monitoring network, Holland said.
Bolivian President Evo Morales thanked the Organization of American States (OAS) member countries this Wednesday for the severe criticisms they leveled at the governments of four European countries, PULSAR reported.
Last week, France, Portugal, Italy and Spain closed their airspaces to Morales’ presidential plane, giving rise to a serious diplomatic incident.
The Bolivian leader welcomed the OAS resolution and stressed that such a show of support entailed not only “defending Evo Morales, but the people of Latin America and the Caribbean as well.”
On Tuesday, the OAS condemned the mistreatment of Morales by the governments of several European countries. The international association called the actions of these countries a “clear violation of the basic norms and principles of international law, such as the inviolability of Heads of State.”
Referring to the mistreatment he experienced days ago when his plane was denied permission to cross the airspace of these countries and was forced to land in Vienna, Austria, Morales stated he could not “conceive that some European countries insist on causing us harm.”
“It seems some countries in Europe continue to think as they did 500 years ago,” Morales charged.
The indigenous Bolivian leader underscored that Latin American peoples are ready to confront “these types of impositions and decisions that do so much damage to human rights.”
Derek Nepinak tosses Indian status card in trash, promises new direction for First Nations
Source: CBC news
Manitoba’s grand chief is promising a new direction for Canada’s First Nations — one that would not include the Indian Act or the Assembly of First Nations — at a gathering of chiefs taking place this week.
Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is heading up the National Treaty Gathering on the Onion Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, which could result in the creation of a breakaway group separate from the AFN.
Nepinak has been talking about forming the National Treaty Alliance, citing too much rhetoric and not enough action from the AFN on First Nations issues.
“As these institutions have become more politicized and more developed along bureaucratic lines, we’ve lost them,” Nepinak said at the meeting Monday.
In a bold symbolic gesture, Nepinak threw his government-issued Indian status card into the trash — a sign of what he said he wants to do for First Nations people.
“This Indian Act card is done with me and I’m done with it,” Nepinak said, before he stood up and tossed his card into a garbage can.
Currently, Canada’s First Nations people are governed by the federal Indian Act, which was created in 1876. Under the act, a status Indian has rights to health, education, and tax exemptions for which other Canadians don’t qualify.
But Nepinak said he no longer wants anything to do with the legislation.
“Do something with that Indian card but distance yourself from it as much as you can,” he said.
“We need to recreate treaty cards and put our faith back in one another again. I think that’s how we deconstruct the Indian Act.”
Atleo calls for unity
At the Assembly of First Nations’ meeting in Whitehorse, National Chief Shawn Atleo warned an audience of more than 200 chiefs on Tuesday that conditions for Canada’s First Nations won’t improve if they split into factions.
Atleo called for unity and told delegates that the AFN strives to respect the sovereignty of First Nations while “being careful not to overstep” its boundaries.
“Our agenda, the First Nations agenda, requires that everyone come together … just as Treaty 7 pulled First Nations together to deal with the rising water,” he said, referring to the recent floods in Alberta.
A call for unity should not be confused with a call for assimilation or cultural hegemony, said Atleo, adding that the AFN supports individual nations negotiating treaty issues with the federal government.
Potential impact on treaty process
Some have expressed concern that having some chiefs split off into a new group could potentially hurt the treaty negotiation process.
“To create something separate and distinct from the AFN on treaty issues may result in a weakening of positions because not everyone will participate,” said Aimee Craft, a lawyer in Winnipeg.
But Jamie Wilson, Manitoba’s treaty commissioner, said Nepinak is prompting a much-needed dialogue about the state of Canada’s treaties.
“We’re talking about issues that a lot of people don’t understand, and when there’s a lack of understanding, there’s a lot of prejudice,” he said.
Wilson said treaties were signed between First Nations and the Crown to mutually benefit both groups, but those agreements have not been implemented.
A decision on whether a new breakaway group should be created is expected to be made later this week.
A resolution in support of the Public Health and Safety Code of the San Carlos Apache Tribe (SCAT) has passed that will directly impact the lives of Natives living with HIV/AIDS. According to SCAT HIV/AIDS Coalition Chair and Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Anita L. Brock, this resolution should help curtail the spread of communicable infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS. It offers tribal members “the system needed to continuously address the threat such diseases pose to the San Carlos Apache community,” Brock says. “The implementation of such a Code supports enforcement of public health responsibilities and the authority needed to identify the risk factors associated with the spread of infectious disease.”
According to HIV/AIDS activist Isadore Boni, a SCAT member and key supporter of the resolution, passage of this resolution does much more: “HIV/AIDS confidentiality is now in our health codes.”
Boni explains that this resolution “allows the protection and confidentiality of public health information and patient privacy, especially for those who have been infected by HIV/AIDS.” Another key component of this resolution, according to Boni, is that it renders HIV testing optional for SCAT members. “There was talk of doing mandatory testing,” he says, “but I advocated against it.”
According to Brock, who worked with the primary team in development of the code now in place, this new resolution benefits not just enrolled SCAT members, but Natives throughout Indian country. “The code adds to the infrastructure needed to make decisions that will benefit all tribal members,” she explains. “They will be the benefactors of a system which values their privacy and continuity of care. In addition, Indian country is quite vast with over 500 tribes, and each tribe may make this determination. From a purely public health perspective, the benefits are self-evident.”
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that American Indians and Alaska Natives ranked fifth in rates of HIV infection in 2011, “with lower rates than blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders, and people reporting multiple races, but higher rates than Asians and whites.” However, American Indians and Alaska Natives have poorer survival rates than all other ethnicities and races.
Boni believes the official CDC numbers documenting the rates of HIV infection among Natives may be significantly lower than the actual rates of HIV/AIDS throughout Indian country.
“I personally know more people on my reservation that have HIV than what our Indian Health Service has in San Carlos,” Boni claims. “People like me get tested in the city, so our numbers do not get counted, and agencies and even tribes do not share information. So how many people actually have HIV/AIDS? No one really knows.”
Boni was diagnosed with HIV and Hepatitis C in 2002. He relocated to Phoenix, Arizona for treatment. “There was, and still are, no services for tribal members who are HIV positive on the reservation.” He says he was homeless in Phoenix for two years and lived on the streets, in halfway houses, and in shelters. He was beaten, and his medications were stolen. He worked as a laborer making minimum wage by day, to try to put together funds to pay for shelter and food at night. On World AIDS Day in 2004, Boni shared his story for the first time, and he has been a public advocate supporting the lives of HIV positive Natives ever since.
“Confidentiality has always been a problem on my reservation,” Boni says. “Many people have shared with me that their health information was disclosed without their consent.”
Boni, who has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Arizona State University, goes on to say that privacy rules and regulations had not been in practice in San Carlos. “It got to a boiling point for me. I assertively pushed the San Carlos Health Department to do something about this.”
Partly due to his efforts, the resolution passed in time for National HIV Testing Day, in June of this year. “HIV disclosure is painful, not only for the individual but their families,” Boni explains. This new code protects them.
“I know the decision-makers in our health department are still clueless as to the impact HIV/AIDS has on our reservation,” Boni continues. “To them it’s not a priority, but I remind them over and over that this health crisis is serious. No San Carlos Apache tribal member should have to die of AIDS complications in order to prove that this is a problem. Period.”
