Having AIDS doesn’t mean all your other problems go away. You still have to work, buy groceries and pay rent. Medication can cost more than $2,000 a month. What you need most is a friend.
“It’s discouraging. There are so many hoops that people have to jump through to get help once they’re diagnosed with the disease,” said John Omiatek, AIDS case manager for McHenry County. “Many of these people are exhausted. They don’t feel they have the energy to keep fighting. This is not a time for moral judgmental attitudes. This is a virus–these people deserve to continue living.”
As McHenry County’s only HIV/AIDS case manager, Omiatek said his job can cause a high degree of frustration.
“Nobody believes that AIDS or HIV is affecting McHenry County,” said Omiatek, 38, of Richmond. “There’s a feeling that we’re far removed from the city–we’re still middle-class rural. Many people continue to believe that this is a disease that only affects inner-city homosexuals and drug addicts.
“The fact is that it’s no longer a disease of those people (only). It doesn’t have a mind that says it’s going to affect certain people.”
According to Omiatek, there are 119 known cases of HIV or AIDS in McHenry County alone. He cites these other statistics from the county health department: One in every 250 people in the U.S. is HIV positive, and the number of U.S. adolescents with AIDS doubles every 14 months.
“Twenty percent of those with AIDS/HIV in McHenry County are in their 20s,” he said. “These statistics point out the severity of the problem, worldwide as well as here at home. We have a lot of young people infected simply because they were teenagers, experimenting and discovering.”
In his office at the Hospice of Northeastern Illinois in Woodstock, Omiatek handles an average caseload of 20 clients.
His job is jointly funded by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, the hospice and the Northeastern Illinois HIV/AIDS Case Management Cooperative. The position was established in 1994.
Doctors refer clients to Omiatek, and he assesses the situation. He begins by providing information and making a connection for his client with agencies, programs and counselors.
Omiatek becomes the link between HIV clients and in-home services for those individuals who need help preparing meals, bathing and doing laundry or shopping. He also can provide housing alternatives and information on support groups for friends and families, special grants, rent subsidies and financial assistance for outstanding bills.
Medication is extremely expensive, and most clients are young and have not built up any savings or equity, Omiatek said. Many of the victims, because of poor choices in the past, don’t have jobs or insurance.
Available to help them are public aid or Social Security programs, food and nutrition plans.
Omiatek also provides information on alternative therapies such as massage and acupuncture, and legal services for health care, property and living wills.
But Omiatek fights a budget battle. “Despite all of that assistance, the cases increase and our costs continue to climb,” Omiatek said. “It can get you down.”
“John really is a terrific case manager, doing a marvelous job,” said Mark Ishaug of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. “He exemplifies what the system is all about. He serves his clients well, and through the hospice he’s providing important services in an area where the number of AIDS/HIV cases continues to grow.”
When Diane (not her real name) learned her HIV test was positive, she was 32, a newlywed and had just found out she was pregnant.
“When the doctor told me, I was furious,” Diane said. “All my `virtues,’ all the things that I thought would protect me from AIDS: no drugs, monogamous sex, good diet, daily exercise, a healthy lifestyle. I’d been kidding myself; the joke was on me.”
Three days later, her husband’s HIV test came back positive. “I felt all our dreams were crushed,” she said. “I lost the baby and fell deep into depression. John was there to help, to talk it through and understand it.”
Diane works as an office manager, and her husband has a good job and a strong medical plan. They spend $22,000 yearly for medicine. Omiatek’s support has been mostly emotional.
“John has been a great source of information about organizations and programs available to me,” she said. “He makes home visits to check on me; he really has become a friend.”
Peggy (not her real name), a 45-year-old woman who lives in Wauconda, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1990.
“Many people up here have their heads in the sand about this disease,” Peggy said. “They’re still in denial. But not John Omiatek. He’s involved and always there for you.”
Peggy, who said she’s feeling “pretty good,” said she couldn’t have gotten this far in her battle without the help. “John has provided food, transportation and medicine,” she said. “Once he helped me to work out my electric bill. He has a way of cutting red tape.”
Omiatek grew up in Wauconda and attended the College of Lake County and the American Academy of Art in Chicago. After working five years as a graphic artist, he decided to return to school and earned a bachelor of arts degree in human services from National-Louis University in Evanston.
While in school, he served an internship at the Hospice of Northeastern Illinois, based in Barrington. After graduation, he took an assignment in the hospice’s Woodstock office working with McHenry County’s geriatric population. In 1995, he was named to the case management position for those affected by HIV.
Omiatek has observed that terminal illness makes people more accountable and more in-tune with who they are and their relationships with others.
“It’s a wakeup call,” he said. “Some of those who were addicts have been able to reconcile their life and achieve goals. They’ve become more proactive with taking charge in their life.
“Ignorance, fear and apathy are what we’re dealing with. There’s a healthy fear around this disease, and we should be protective of ourselves. But this virus is very fragile. It can only be spread in a few ways. As scientists come closer to a cure, some people feel that they don’t have to be as cautious, and in that case they can be wrong.”
Omiatek said Diane is one of the more positive stories. “She’s a strong, capable adult, and she was able to face and work through the difficult issues and derive strength from them,” Omiatek said.
“We’re a lot better off than a lot of the folks,” Diane said. “When I turned to John Omiatek, it was for help other than financial. He’s been a huge help to me emotionally.”
“There has to be compassion,” Omiatek said. “I do a lot of rallying. Many of the clients don’t have the wherewithal to fight because of their education or the effect of the medication or past drug use. They don’t have that ability to know what steps to take, to know how to advocate for themselves.”
Much of Omiatek’s role is education. “We are coming a long way in fighting and knowing about this disease,” Omiatek said. “We need to keep the fight up, punch after punch. With knowledge sometimes comes apathy, and we can’t let our guard down.”
