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Boulder County residents remember those who died from AIDS with 35-year tradition

It began 35 years ago to honor those who died from AIDS, and it continues to make sure people remember the disease is still prevalent.
Credit: Rodriguez, Jacob

Every year on the third Sunday of May, the same group walks the same route and reads the same names.

The people behind the Boulder County AIDS Project do it in honor of the people who lost their lives to HIV. And while the disease is no longer a death sentence in the United States, there is still no cure.

"Today a lot of people don’t know about HIV because they didn’t get to see the height of the epidemic," said Ana Hopperstad, the Executive Director of the Boulder County AIDS Project.

When she was a case manager in the '90s, she lost five clients a week to AIDS. Recent advances in medicine mean people with the disease can live a long life. But there is still no vaccine, and Hopperstad worried about political leaders' perceptions.

“The environment we are in right now isn’t exactly friendly to people who are affected by HIV," she said.

It's why Hopperstad and people who support the county's AIDS Project continue to organize a memorial walk every year.

It began 35 years ago to honor those who died from AIDS, and it continues to make sure people remember the disease is still prevalent.

A spokesperson for the Boulder County AIDS Project said one of their biggest hurdles today is making sure underserved communities and undocumented people still get access to HIV medication so their sentence isn't the same as the people who died in the '80s and '90s.

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