Baird: About six years ago, when I moved into my house, a neighbor came up and talked to me. She said, “Welcome to the neighborhood,” and that sort of thing and asked what I did. I said “I'm a nurse. I work at NIH.” “Oh, what kind of work you do?” “I work with AIDS research.” I thought she was going to kick me out of the neighborhood. She said, “If you do, I am surprised you even tell anybody about it.” About the same time, or maybe shortly before that, my dentist and my doctor wrote on my chart “Works with AIDS patients.”
Interviewer: Did they make sure they wore gloves and a mask before they examined you?
Baird: It was like I wore a big letter “A.” My doctor and my dentist wanted to make sure that, if I was going to pick up AIDS at work and if I was foolish enough to work with these patients, then just because they were giving me care they were not going to be exposed. They were very careful.
For the complete transcript of this interview, go to the Transcripts page.
