The AIDS Epidemic in San Francisco: The Response of Community Physicians, 1981-1984, Vol. I

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More on BAPHR

BAPHR's AIDS Survey

Hughes

Well, in 1983, BAPHR started an AIDS survey in which physicians contributed their experience of seeing people with AIDS.

Do you remember participating?

Campbell

Yes. I think Will Warner was the investigator on that. We had a little data sheet that we were supposed to keep on people we were seeing, and I think I might have collected maybe twenty-five or thirty people. I don't think they were supposed to have full-blown AIDS, but they were just supposed to be suspect individuals. We were supposed to write down if they'd had candida, or what their T cells were if they had been done, or if they had lymphadenopathy or neuropathy. We checked off various things, and then I think one or two years later Will Warner came out with results of what happened to all of those patients. As I recall, a couple of my patients turned out to be negative. One had just a little bit of lymphadenopathy, so I put him down. And there was another one that had T cells that were a little bit off, but it turned out to be due to intercurrent infection.

Hughes

And was the study published?

Campbell

I don't think it was formally published, but it was discussed in the BAPHR meeting.

Hughes

This study was to try to define this new disease more closely?

Campbell

Yes. We were just trying to get a handle on the natural history of the disease.

BAPHR's Social Concerns Committee

Hughes

I saw mention of the Social Concerns Committee of BAPHR. What was its purpose?

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Campbell

I think the purpose of that committee was to discuss any issue that had to do with discrimination against gay people, and later on, of course, people with AIDS.

Hughes

In a medical setting? For example, a hospital that wouldn't take an AIDS patient or didn't give proper care?

Campbell

It would be something like that. The committee did some work with the blood bank, I believe. I think they became active on this issue along with the Scientific Affairs Committee. What else did they discuss? I think anything which had gotten into the political arena, and a lot of it did have to do with AIDS.

BAPHR's Liaison with California State Government

Hughes

Did members of BAPHR have specific contacts in government at the local, state, and maybe even federal level?

Campbell

Some did. I think we had a liaison person that went up to Sacramento every other Friday when the [California State] Assembly convened, in response to things like the LaRouche amendments.

Hughes

But not on a routine basis?

Campbell

I think that right along, there was always something in the legislature that pertained to AIDS, and so that was an ongoing thing. There were always bills that affected people with AIDS. And I think for a period of three or four years, Dr. Seth Charney went to Sacramento regularly to deal with that. There were also people who met with the Department of Public Health on a regular basis.

Hughes

How did people juggle these new responsibilities with their practices? How could a physician take time off on a regular basis to drive to Sacramento and presumably spend the day?

Campbell: The person who did that was semi-retired. I think Will Warner became very active in some of those things, and he did not work full-time.

About this text
Courtesy of Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt6580067h&brand=oac4
Title: The AIDS Epidemic in San Francisco: The Response of Community Physicians, 1981-1984, Vol. I
By:  Sally Smith Hughes
Date: 1996
Contributing Institution: Regional Oral History Office, University of California, Berkeley
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