When DeLoria White first found out she was HIV positive, she broke down in hot tears of fear and shame.
“I thought it was a death sentence. I didn’t want to tell nobody,” says the 57-year-old grandmother of eight. “I went into denial and I stayed there. I was very afraid. I didn’t want to die.”
Today, nearly 11 years after she was first diagnosed, White has learned that HIV is a manageable condition and that she has no reason to feel ashamed. After she moved to San Jose in 2008, she sought help at The Health Trust’s AIDS Services Program, which has helped her find housing, get medical care and come to grips with her illness. At a time when funding for AIDS services is hard to come by because many assume the epidemic is over, The Health Trust is a lifeline for people like White.