FEATURE STORY APRIL 2015 - GAILA SMALLEY

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Gaila Smalley
Care Coordinator
AIDS Coordination and Information Services
OACF Richard May Award Winner

Gaila Smalley: When people ask me what I do, I say I'm a Social Worker for DHS, first and foremost, and that I am lucky enough to be one of six people in the state of Oklahoma who get to work with people who are HIV or AIDS infected or affected in the state of Oklahoma.

On a daily basis as a Caseworker or Care Coordinator, as we're called, I take people that come to me that identify themselves as being HIV positive, call that need assistance. I help identify needs, gather information for them. A lot of times if it's a new diagnosis their big, major need is to see where they are in their disease process, so the first thing they want to do is see a doctor. 

Well, I'm in the regular DHS office which is the old 55E office out of the old Children's Hospital here in Oklahoma City. I'm there three days a week. Then, an opportunity came up about three years ago to partner with different community agencies and with Expressions Church who was also opening Expressions Community Center here on the 39th strip-- 39th Street strip here in Oklahoma City which is basically the gay district. There's a lot of gay bars, lesbian bars. It's just kind of the hub of the area, and the church is located here in this building. They opened a community center partnered with other agencies and wanted actually to have case management on-site for people who actually test positive because they do testing here every day, and to have people here in case somebody did test positive, because we have the highest positivity rate, I believe, in the whole state of all the test sites. Because Oklahoma County is the highest county in the state as far as HIV positive tests, and then this zip code has the highest number of new positives. So, we get a lot of positive test results that come through this office. 

So, I'm able to touch the people that just test positive and get them right into services, as far as talking to them, letting them know this isn't the end of the world. It's something new they know about their body. It's not the death sentence that it was. 

I'm very lucky and grateful that I get to spend time right here in the community. I try to develop a rapport, the very first meeting I want them to know, you know, back in the 90s it was a big deal for me I had to gown up, glove up and mask up to go into a hospital room. But, the very first thing I did was go to the patient's bed and say scoot over because I wanted to sit on the bed, and I wanted to hold their hand, and meet them, and talk to them. I wanted them to know that just because I have to wear all of this because the hospital says so, I'm not scared of you. So many times it's just the touch; it's just the hug, whatever that I can do to make that person feel comfortable. 

Developing and keeping that rapport, I think, is what all of us as Case Managers and Social Workers can do to help any client that we are helping, whether they have an illness or they don't, is developing that rapport because the people that we're dealing with are just human beings like us. You know, I've sat on the other side of the table. I've sat on the other side of the desk and needed services from DHS. I used to tell my TANF clients that, too. ôI've sat in the same chair that you're sitting in, and I turned it around. I did what I needed to do for my family.ö 

It would be like a light bulb moment for them that, ôOh, you're a DHS worker, and you're telling me that I have the opportunity, and I can take this opportunity for myself, and I'm worth it.ö Yeah, you're worth it. 

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Mary Streich
Board Member
Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund

Mary Streich: Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund started in 1992 by Barbara and Jackie Cooper. They felt that there was a need in Oklahoma for the help agencies in the state to provide services for and education for those with HIV/AIDS. Over the last 22 years, not counting this year, we have raised 11.5 million dollars. 

Richard May was one of the founders of the Oklahoma AIDS Care Fund, and he passed away several years ago. In honor of him each year a person in the state of Oklahoma, usually from the Oklahoma County area, is given an award for their work with people with HIV. 

Gaila Smalley: To receive the award, I tried not to be a nervous wreck, but I of course, was because I'm not one to be in the limelight. All of the attention because of the award has been two-fold. It's been as uncomfortable as can be, but it's been wonderful to be able to share information about the work I do and for people to see what I do. I'm very proud of my job. I'm very proud of the work I do and what I've done in my life. 

Mary Streich: People receive this award for their long-term work in HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma. They've done things in all different levels, and over the years they have shown how they can help others. Some of them are volunteers. Some of them have been employees of an organization like Gaila. 

Gaila Smalley: I didn't get this award by myself. I got this shoulder-to-shoulder with my co-workers. I have a wonderful group of co-workers that nominated me and wrote wonderful things about me to get this award. They work hand-in-hand with me every single day. We bounce things off each other. We bounce bad days off each other. If one of us is gloom and doom, having a really bad day, the other one will try, ôwell, let's go get a cupcake.ö We'll try something to bring the other one up. We're all a very tight-knit group, a supportive group. 

I think I just go back to that, and I look at the clients that I've helped. That brings me back to-- I know that that's the real thanks in the job. It's the thanks that you get when you know that you've done a good job, and you know that you've helped someone that really not everybody could help. You come across the client that really changes it. I had one last week. You just walk in and you do an intake on someone, and you just know that their story mattered, and it didn't fit into the category of any story that you've had in all the 20 years. 

I've really met some wonderful people that do really great things. Once you take the time, and you've been compassionate to them it's amazing the compassion that pours out of them. It opens the spout, and I'm one to pay it forward. I'm one to say, you never know why you were given that, or why you were given an award, or why you were lucky enough to get your drink paid for at Starbucks. But, you pay it forward, and you never know who you're going to touch. 

That means the greatest, and we're the ones who are touching the most people in Oklahoma. We're the biggest agency that's providing social services. With ACIS and the AIDS Care Coordination Unit, we're touching the very vulnerable of the state and the very sick and we're doing good work. 

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