Frist inspires HIV/AIDS activism

Former Senate Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., hoped to inspire HIV/AIDS activism through a PowerPoint presentation Tuesday in the IU Auditorium. He said he wanted to make students realize they are all the same. \nFrist explained to a crowd of about 100 people how medicine can be used to obtain peace and how the HIV/AIDS issue has followed him through his experience as a surgeon and in the Senate.\nAs a surgeon, Frist said he encountered ethical and moral questions when HIV/AIDS first became an issue in the 1980s. He said he was unsure if a heart surgery should be performed on someone who was already diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. \nAs a senator and majority leader, Frist helped pass legislation that increased the budget for HIV/AIDS research.\nWhile in Sudan, Frist said he was able to treat people by providing services on both sides of the ongoing war. By doing so, people were able to form a bond with him and the other doctors.\nProviding medicine will also help build global popularity for the United States, as was proven after the nation responded to the tsunami in Indonesia in late 2004 with the tsunami relief effort, Frist said.\n“If we are a wealthy country, we should reach out to those who aren’t,” Frist said.\nFrist, who has been traveling to Africa since 1998, said he has seen firsthand how medicine can help bring people together. \nBloomington resident Niki Van-Alstine said she thought the most insightful part of the presentation was how he connected creating peace and trust with medicine. \nThe former senator said students should put themselves in others’ shoes by going on missionary trips or joining a global organization. Frist gave students a detailed list of organizations they can join to help make a difference in the world, such as the Survive to 5 Campaign to promote children’s health, the ONE campaign against poverty and the RED Campaign against HIV/AIDS. \nAndrew Dahlen, director of Union Board’s lectures, said he thought this information was the most helpful for students.\n“(I liked) probably the little things that we can do as citizens to create change and impact legislation,” Dahlen said. \nThe presentation ended with Frist reminding students that “we are all one.”\nAfter the presentation, Frist tackled questions from audience members that ranged from how to get over being scared of going to a Third World country to how he would solve the American health care problem.\nIU junior and ONE Campaign member Emma D’Arcy said she enjoyed how Frist talked to the students like an average person. \nBefore audience members left, Frist showed the crowd a Coke commercial in which he participated, where he and a Democratic senator stopped bickering and became friends when they started drinking Coke together. \nFrist said life is not as easy as a Coke commercial but encouraged students not to give up hope on peace. \nDahlen said he thought the whole presentation went well.\n“He touched on a lot of issues on global heath,” Dahlen said. “Students came away with a lot of important insight.”