DECEMBER 28 - RUTH COKER BURKSRuth Coker Burks was a young mother in her twenties when the AIDS epid

DECEMBER 28 - RUTH COKER BURKS

Ruth Coker Burks was a young mother in her twenties when the AIDS epidemic hit her home state of Arkansas in the early 1980s. She took it upon herself to care for AIDS patients who were abandoned by their families, and even by medical professionals, who feared the disease.

Coker Burks, now 55, has no medical training, but she estimates that she has cared for nearly 1,000 people over the past three decades, including her friend Paul Wineland’s partner.

Today’s post is an excerpt from the NPR piece “Caring For AIDS Patients, ‘When No One Else Would’“. Read the full story here.