BTAN Broward Members Honored

Pat Fleurinord of BTAN Broward

Pat Fleurinord and Melvin Wright were honored with Unsung Hero Awards by the Westside Gazette in partnership World AIDS Museum and Educational Center for their efforts in raising awareness of HIV in the black community. The BTAN Broward members have dedicated time and energy to make sure that the community is armed with the information needed to prevent new HIV diagnosis.

Both have had close family members succumb to HIV. Fleurinord comments: "My family members died at home not knowing anything about the services that were available to them. I don't want to lose another family member or friend because they don't know. So every day I go out and encourage people to know their status." Wright has had similar experiences with family members. His father, sister, stepmom and uncle have all passed away from HIV/AIDS, which led to his involvement with the BTAN Broward chapter.

Wright who works for the Broward County Board of Education, was looking for a way to get involved in HIV advocacy when a friend introduced him to the BTAN Broward chapter. "I was invited to attend a BTAN meeting and have been with the organization ever since," says Wright.

Fleurinord is a Prevention Coordinator at Broward House, the oldest AIDS agency in Broward County, and has been with BTAN Broward since its inception. "When BTAN first came to Broward County we went through a week of training in Miami," she recalls, thanking Evelyn Ullah, as contributing to the growth of the chapter. "She came in and educated us about what we should be doing and made BTAN Broward a work group for the Broward County HIV Prevention Planning Council."

Broward County ranks second in the state of Florida for new HIV and AIDS cases, with a disproportionate number of these cases coming from Black communities, including Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale, Deerfield and Pompano, areas where Fleurinord and Wright spend their time educating, especially young adults.

"I had BTAN come out and speak to the students in Fort Lauderdale about ways to protect against HIV," says Wright. He also maintains a Facebook page, Be a Champion for AIDS/HIV, which he constantly updates with the latest activities and events around Broward County.

On June 24 BTAN Broward hosted a live concert/testing event. "If you got tested you received a free ticket to rapper Trick Daddy's concert," says Fleurinord. "We picked an artist that we felt would pull in the younger crowd. The only way to get into the concert is to get tested." This is not to rule out those who are HIV positive who were also eligible for tickets.

Fleurinord continues: "The concert was nice. We were able to test about 600 to 700 people and it was a different audience for us. People didn't know about the HIV advances so we took some time to educate them on PrEP and PeP."

BTAN Broward would like to do more events like this in the future.

Tamara E. Holmes is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist who writes about health, wealth and personal growth.