Living with AIDS

"New Jersey has the fifth largest AIDS population in the country. By 1991 there will be one new case of AIDS every three hours. "The five part news series and documentary 'Living with Aids' along with the 'On the Record' interview program, performed an outstanding public service in that it presented, for the first time, in either print or broadcast, the total AIDS picture in New Jersey. From a drug users 'shooting gallery' in Jersey City, to the home of a remarkable Newark woman who has adopted children with AIDS, to a session with a psychologist counseling a gay man with the disease, this story is told through the lives of people who are 'Living with Aids.' "These personal stories are used to present the important public health issues of how will the state pay to care for its growing AIDS population? Can doctors refuse to treat people with AIDS? Is there such a thing as safe sex? Discrimination against people with AIDS. What do we teach our children about AIDS? And, what are the hopes for finding a cure for this always fatal disease? In the documentary the issues of one hospital dumping its AIDS patients on another is raised, which prompted the State Attorney General's Civil Rights Division to investigate the allegation; that investigation is continuing today. "At the conclusion of each news episode and the documentary we gave the number of the New Jersey AIDS hotline. The Hotline reported it received 96 calls in response to the reports. The station is making copies of the program available, at cost, to any school or organization that requests it. Correspondent/Producer, Larry Stuelpnagel, continues to cover AIDS issues and is at work on another AIDS documentary. He has also spoken on how to cover the AIDS issue to high school editors at a recent seminar sponsored by Rutgers University. 'The Philadelphia Inquirer' praised the report for not pandering or overdramatizing. The 'Philadelphia Daily News' called it a 'remarkable work.' On tape one the documentary follows the news series. The interview program is on a separate tape and should be viewed last."--1987 Peabody Awards entry form.This is the documentary, as described above.