16 UNPUBLICIZED CASES
OP/ED by Tim Tritch
To whom it may concern,
My name is Tim Tritch. For six years I was employed by Heathline Clinical Laboratories, and Westcliff Clinical Labs as the Senior Account Representative in charge of the AIM Healthcare account. As part of my job duties I spent hundreds of hours at AIM, and had the pleasure to meet literally hundreds of adult industry performers. In my twenty plus years in the clinical laboratory field my association with the AIM Healthcare Foundation is by far the most rewarding project I was ever involved with.
In the future I plan to write several more articles about my experiences, but I would like to take the time to address this particular issue first, as it something that I take very personally.
It has been widely reported that there were 16 unpublicized cases of HIV in the adult film industry. Several organizations seized upon the reporting of this, first by the L.A. Times, as ammunition in their attempts to enforce healthcare regulations on the industry. This claim of ‘unpublicized’ cases has bought a new level of scrutiny not only on the adult film industry, but on the protocols of AIM Healthcare. The fact that the L.A. Times printed a retraction to this article five days later seems to be conveniently forgotten.
During my tenure with HLC, and Westcliff, I always treated every "specimen" that I received as if it belonged to my brother or sister. Meeting, and getting to know scores of performers only reinforced this attitude and I looked upon my job as one of trust and responsibility to the people that I was serving, and I always considered myself a servant.
I am here to say to all of the people that I consider friends, and all performers who put their trust in me, that not a single of those 16 unpublicized cases involved an active performer in the "straight" adult film industry. If it were true that AIM somehow kept these cases secret, then it would also be true that I was part of that conspiracy. I would NEVER have remained silent on such an issue, even if it would have had negative consequences for me. HLC and Westcliff labs both follow very strict protocols with our clients, and in my 20 plus years of laboratory experience I can honestly say that I never had a client who dotted the "I"s and crossed the "T"s the way that AIM did, and does to this day. AS part of my job duties I had access to all of the test results at AIM, and I was in charge of making sure that all of our protocols were followed. Of course I cannot violate privacy laws, I can only say to you that I would never do this to you, and I give you my word on this. As someone you all trusted for years, my word is all I have.
I do not have any agenda except to serve the people,(performers), who put their trust in me for several years. I consider many performers to be my friends, and it is to them, and them only, that I feel any allegiance. I make this statement to you, my friends, and all performers, that what was purported to have happened here never took place. I say that as your friend, your servant, and a medical professional.
I will have a lot more to say in the future, and I would like to say now that I believe there can be many improvements made to the current system with very little effort. And as I said at one of the OSHA hearings,"The industry does not need permission from anybody to improve its own system." It is encouraging to see several performers beginning to come forward with their desire to improve the system, and I would like to offer my assistance in this process. To those of you who have had the courage to make public statements on this issue, I offer my support and help. Anyone who wishes to contact me please feel free to do so, and I hope you do. I think that together we can make real change for the better, and we don’t need OSHA, County Health, AFH, or anyone else for that matter to make it happen. This is very personal for me, and I hope my future articles will help you all understand why.
In the past I have also worked as a paid consultant for both LATATA and Aids Healthcare Foundation. I look forward to writing more, and I have a simple dream of just making things a little better for performers. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Tim Tritch
tritchtm@ca.rr.com