community spotlight
by lance perkins
Will Heilbut
HealtH eductator
27 years old, Will Heilbut grew up in South America. Will explains, “My dad is a
pilot and was working for a company based in Miami for three years when I was
born. He ended up getting transferred to Bogotá, the capital of Gran Colombia
where I grew up. It’s so nice there, I love that city!” After studying English and
graduating high school, Will moved to the United States. Will continues, “I first
moved to Dallas then went on to Ohio State for my undergrad. I moved to south-
ern California mid-2005 to attend UCI for my graduate degree.” Heilbut has an
undergrad in biochemistry and a master’s degree in organic chemistry.
After graduating, Will started teaching at Chapman University and had some
time after work to volunteer. Will explains, “At that time, my partner and I decided
to go and get an HIV test together. That’s when I realized where I could get in-
volved in volunteering, providing HIV testing.”
Professionally, Heilbut is a chemist and is currently working in the Education
field. “I have a few jobs and I work as a faculty member at Chapman University
and I am about to start a new job at a UCI research lab assisting undergraduates
in research.” Will said. His career coincides closely with his volunteer work. Will
explains, “I feel like when I do my HIV testing, I act as a health educator. The reason I
like it is because it’s education in a different context. You can’t get it in a classroom;
it’s on a one-on-one basis. I also do lectures about HIV and prevention for Mpower
OC and A.S.F., but I really like the one-on-one health education and counseling
the best.” Will describes how the testing works. “The test takes about 20 minutes.
In the meantime I speak to the client and do what is called ‘risk detection’ where I
establish where the client is in regards to risk level for infection of HIV in relation
to their sexual behavior. It involves a conversation about their sexual practices,
such as number of partners and what role they like to play sexually and if there
are any drugs involved.” Mpower OC tests about five people per day on average.
“If it’s a busy day, I can test up to ten in a four-hour period, pretty much, back-
to-back.” he said. Will finds his volunteer work at Mpower OC to be very fulfilling.
Will expressed, “A lot of people really appreciate the work we do at M Power, so
it feels good! Most of the time, people I see are very nervous about the whole
situation. They might have done something wrong, they don’t know if they have
contracted HIV and they are pretty scared. They aren’t clear about what the risks
are and I help put their anxieties to rest about HIV through education. I also like
to be part of a conversation that challenges sexual taboos in regards to HIV and
AIDS. That’s exciting to me.“ Will is part of the ‘core group’ at Mpower OC. Will
elaborates, “We meet on Thursday nights, starting off with an HIV prevention
piece and then follow up with various events and activities. We plan outreach
to increase group size to get the word out about HIV prevention. It’s all in a very
open, fun and carefree environment. We welcome new members to come and the height of the epidemic where people they knew, friends and family members
join the group and volunteer. “ were dying of AIDS. A lot of youth today don’t understand the seriousness of the
Mpower OC is funded by grants and private donations but they still see the disease and think it’s easily manageable with medication. My main goal is to see
effects of the recent state budget cuts. Will expresses, “It breaks my heart that as- more young people get involved, be aware and get educated on safe sex, HIV
sistance for people living with HIV is going to be reduced and more recently when prevention and health.”
Schwarzenegger’s used his line item veto power to cut health education programs, Mpower OC offers free confidential and anonymous rapid HIV testing for
including HIV. I’ve already seen people I know in the field lose their jobs. “ young gay/bisexual men, ages 18-29 by certified staff with results in 20 min-
Will says that while volunteering, he has noticed a trend with the new genera- utes. Located at 3303 Harbor Blvd., Ste. B-6 in Costa Mesa. For operational
tion of taking the HIV and AIDS epidemic too lightly. He stresses, “They didn’t see hours, contact Miguel Rodriguez at 714.327.0236 or visit
mpoweroc.org.
8 RAGE monthly | OctOber 2009
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