25 faces: Leaders fighting HIV/AIDS in Colorado

19 Dan Reirden

One of the top issues surrounding HIV/AIDS today is access to healthcare, said Dan Reirden, medical director of the youth HIV program at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado.

“Many individuals who are HIV-infected are also members of communities who are underinsured or uninsured. In a time when people are looking to cut funding for programs such as Ryan White, it could be difficult to get medical care.”

It’s still possible for an HIV-positive person who wants care to be denied access, Rierden said. While there is no waiting list in Colorado – and the uninsured can still get free treatment at Denver Health or the Childrens’ Hospital – many states, including Florida, Georgia and Virginia, still have HIV patients who are denied treatment when they’re on the list.

“One of the challenges we have is getting people access to medications sooner, so their immune system isn’t depleted by the time they get on,” Rierden said. “Things have changed profoundly; 20 years ago people didn’t have the multitude of therapies allowing them to have full lives, which they now do – so long as they have access to medical care.”

Reirden took special interest in HIV/AIDS since before he went to medical school, but began working with patients there in the 1990s. The Children’s Hospital’s youth HIV program deals with care, prevention, community outreach and education.

“People need to understand that it’s a preventable illness that doesn’t necessarily have a singlular face” to identify who might be infected and could transmit the virus. You can’t judge from appearances who you might get it from, Reirden said – “Anybody who’s been sexually active should consider being tested.”

“My choice to work with primarily with adolescents and young adults speaks to what I’m most passionate about – identify young people early, give them care and change their individual lives to allow them to live with a chronic illness, and thrive as adults.”