Hospital lights to go red for World Aids Day

HIV Testing Week culminates in World Aids Day which takes place on Tuesday December 1, when York Hospital will be lit up in red lights.

On World Aids Day the North Yorkshire Aids Memorial Quilt will also be on display in the main entrance at York Hospital. There will also be an opportunity for people to write in the Book of Remembrance and to pick up a red ribbon.  

The Aids Memorial Quilt Project was first started in San Francisco in 1987. It features panels made by family and friends, to commemorate the life of their loved one. This has now grown to be a huge quilt of over 3,000 panels.

Taking inspiration from this, the North Yorkshire Aids Memorial Quilt is a large free-standing quilt, with a white Yorkshire Rose for each of those who has died. The Quilt was started by a group of bereaved Mothers and Partners and is updated each year by North Yorkshire Aids Action.  

Kath Gallon, Manager at North Yorkshire Aids Action, said: “Whenever the Quilt is displayed there is the opportunity to write in the Book of Remembrance.

“For the past 16 years the quilt and the remembrance book have been displayed on World Aids Day in York Minster. Visitors from all over the world have created a moving record of their loved ones lost to AIDS and their loving concern for those who are living with HIV.

“The quilt has never been displayed in other areas in North Yorkshire, so during HIV Testing Week it will be displayed at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton on Monday 30 November before it is displayed at York Hospital on World Aids Day.”

People at risk of HIV now and in the future can attend any YorSexualHealth service for a HIV test.  It is routinely offered to patients attending all sexual health services.

To find out about where you can get tested or to request a test online visit www.yorsexualhealth.org.uk or call the booking and information line on 01904 721111.

29 November 2015