Kristen Davis

speaker

1,669 appearances 27 recordings 6 series first heard Nov 2024 last heard 13 Apr

Kristen Davis’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

Trend

recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in Feb 2026 with 3.

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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark · 457 - In With The Goths · 5 Dec 2024 podcast

It's like the gay men go in and they're like, oh, the lighting in here is terrible. It's just like, but it matters. Yeah. It's all about dignity. Yeah. It's quality of life. They also run errands. They offer counseling. They look for housing for the patients when they get discharged because there are patients who are getting discharged.

Nurse Allison Moed says, quote, on a broad level, we learned how to take care of patients who are going through this terrible disease. It was about caring, not about curing.

It was about touching and interacting, letting people know they were safe, letting people know that they were accepted, letting people know that their wishes were going to be listened to, that their thoughts about their care and options were going to be respected and heard. That was not necessarily the mode in those days. So very quickly, the demand for Ward 5B exceeds its capacity.

When a patient passes away and a bed becomes available, it's quickly filled by someone from a lengthy wait list. Then in May of 1986, the unit expands into Ward 5A, adding about 30 more beds. Wow. So as Ward 5B's profile rises, politicians, advocates, and celebrities stop by to show support for the staff's efforts and the patient's recovery.

Of course, given the stigma around HIV and AIDS at the time, not everyone is in support of what's going on at SF General. Homophobic members of the public are incensed that public dollars have gone to the funding of 5B. And in cases where the patients are well enough to move around the hospital and visit the cafeteria, hysteria erupts around 5B patients using the water fountains.

A group of four nurses even sues San Francisco General over fears that 5B is risking their personal health. But that case is ultimately shot down as 5B's model of care is deemed safe and appropriate treatment. Before long, it becomes the gold standard for HIV and AIDS care throughout the world. Meanwhile, the mission of 5B stands firm.

In 1985, the New York Times reports that just two staffers have left the ward in its first two years of operation, which is, quote, a much lower number than hospital wards normally experience. Alison Moed says, quote, we learned that compassion is one of those things that doesn't become depleted. The more you give it, it actually replenishes.

It's one of those things where the more you give, the better you feel and want to give. That's what love's about, right? There was a very loving exchange and loving feeling on the unit. And I know you could see it. We were really committed to what we were doing and passionate about being able to do it. So by the mid-1990s, advancements in medication change everything.

An AIDS diagnosis is no longer an automatic death sentence. And before long, HIV is regarded as a manageable chronic condition. Fewer and fewer beds in wards 5A and 5B are occupied. And by 2006, both wards are officially disbanded. 2006, that's like such a long time. Such a long time. Yeah. Cliff Morrison continues working as an advocate for those people with HIV and AIDS.

In interviews, he's not one to talk about his own emotions or experience, which is on brand for such a dedicated health care provider. But like so many gay men of his age, he lost an unimaginable number of loved ones to this disease. Cliff has said, quote, I have dealt with survivor's guilt on and off through the years and still suffer from PTSD. I don't have any peers because they all died.

Oh, you're right. Today, the majority of my friends are 20 years younger than me, but I have absolutely no regrets. I would do it all again. I was a gay man, but I was a nurse first. The impact of his work with 5B endures. Today, there's a memorial plaque hanging at the hospital that says, quote, On July 25, 1983, here on Ward 5B, a group of caregivers gathered to confront a new epidemic, AIDS.

They created a haven of acceptance and compassion at a time when others were calling for isolation and rejection. They saw fellow human beings where others saw only disease and contagion. Together with a generous, loving volunteer community, they developed a world-renowned center of excellence dedicated to quality of care for the living and the dying.

This plaque commemorates all who served here and remembers all who died. And that is the story of Cliff Morrison and the heroic staff at Ward 5B. I mean, holy shit. Right? Unbelievable. Good job. I mean, I think being... In any way first is one of the hardest things to do. You don't have anybody behind you.

Especially like in Cliff's situation, he was having to teach and basically lecture doctors of like that whole thing of I have it already. If it's bad, I have it. So there's no reason I don't go take care of my friend. And that kind of energy, which is like risking it, that's the ultimate sacrifice. Yeah. For something is like, so you're not just standing by letting something go on.

And then you become, Cliff became this example. Of like, well, if he's doing it, then it must be OK for me. Right. Which must mean that this hysteria is not the truth. Right. That it's essentially like we actually have to figure. And now, you know, now we know that like there there was very specific ways that HIV was transmitted.

So that whole idea was completely incorrect. It was just no one knew the the exact medical truth. Yeah. Yeah.

Because the president wouldn't say it was happening. I mean, like, if you want to read Cliff Morrison's actual own writing about this, there is a website you can go to. It'll be listed in the sources. And it's an article he wrote called They Did Not Die Peacefully. And he wrote it in 2011. So it really is like the firsthand account.

If you're looking for that, that's the source that you should pull and read because his firsthand account, you know, is what everyone should read.

And be brave and take care of your fellow man. That's right. And do your best. Do your best. You've got it in you. You do. Be first. Yeah.

This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck. Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Creighton.

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