Bruce House: More than a house

Try the cocktail

Canadian HIV/AIDS Clearinghouse HIV Prevention Plus, November/December, 2001

Bruce House has developed a unique educational tool to help youth to understand the reality of living on the HIV/AIDS Cocktail. Using candies of similar size and colour to real HIV/AIDS medications, Bruce House has challenged high school students to 2 days on the placebo medicines. The regime, representative of that taken by Bruce House residents requires a total of 51 ‘pills’ a day to be ingested at different times. Each ‘pill’ comes with an explanation of its side effects. Compliance with the regime – even in candy form, is very difficult and students are asked to record their progress in a journal.

“While there are treatments for the disease, there is no cure” says Bruce House Executive Director Jay Koornstra. “The rate of infection is still high, particularly among those who feel that AIDS is not a threat now that there is a ‘cocktail’. Having the participation of youth strengthens the message that there is not a cure for HIV/AIDS and that the medications are highly toxic.”

The ‘real’ drug cocktail is actually a highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), a recent development which has drastically altered the state of the AIDS epidemic in Canada and other industrialized countries. Between 1993 and 1998, the number of AIDS cases declined from 1,751 to 279 while the number of annual AIDS-related deaths decreased from a high of 1,421 in 1995 to 151 in 1998 (Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STDs and TB, Health Canada).

The ‘cocktail’ is a chemotherapy-like treatment requiring a lifelong commitment to taking numerous pills at specific times throughout the day. This often causes immediate short-term side effects ranging from severe gastrointestinal problems, headaches, nausea, memory loss, hair loss, and rashes. Long-term side effects include life threatening diseases including liver, kidney, and heart disease.

“I will be happy if I never see another piece of candy again. Two days does not sound like a lot…but it was enough to make me completely change my point of view,” said one student who has taken the challenge. “Taking that many [pills] a day is so much harder than I ever would have imagined. They literally control your life. When you have HIV, everything revolves around these pills…I truly have a new respect for people who manage to do that every day of their life and I’m glad there is a place like Bruce House.”

Bruce House came up with this challenge as part of its annual Red Ribbon Campaign. Money raised from this campaign allows the agency to continue to care for people living with HIV who need support.