North Bay turns red for 'World AIDS Day'

You might notice a distinct change in colour downtown over the weekend after Friday morning—and no, I’m not talking about an abundance or lack of snow; I’m talking about red.

Red scarves to be specific.

It’s kind of hard to miss as hundreds of them have been tied to light posts, railings, the couple bikes that are still somehow around, or just anything that they can be tied to.

If you see one, don’t be afraid to take one and wear it around, or give it to a friend or family member. It’s part of the awareness campaign for AIDS Awareness Week.

“Today is world AIDS day and it’s an event that is, unfortunately, is still happening because it means HIV and AIDS are still out there and still infecting people and people all over the world and this community are still living with it,” Dr. Stacey Mayhall, Executive Director of the AIDS Committee of North Bay & Area said. “Over the last five years, we’ve been encouraging people in our community to make scarves or donate yarn for scarves. Today we’ve been tying them to trees, lamp posts, asking people to wear them, and asking people to put them across Main Street to raise awareness.”

Dr. Mayhall encouraged people to take the scarves—which have HIV/AIDS information—and take selfies with their new-found scarves at the location, tagging their social media at ‘#ACNBAredscarf’ to help build the campaign.

“It surprises people that we still have infections that occur here every year and people are still living with it today and some of them having been living with it for over 30 years,” Dr. Mayhall said about trying to raise awareness for something members of the community might not know a lot about. “I think the biggest challenge is the stigma.”

Dr. Mayhall said those in the community who live with HIV face stigma more and if they are an individual who is infected but doesn’t know, they aren’t aware that they need treatment or are afraid to get treatment because of the stigmas they too possess.

Dr. Mayhall said despite being a good community with a lot of support, it’s still a challenge to raise awareness and eliminate stigma, but together would be able to make a difference.

“We have the ability to stop because it’s a prevented situation,” she said. “Get tested if you think you’re at risk and come see us.”