David Moore and David Blatt can appreciate the significance of Dec. 1 more than most in Illinois.
It was, of course, World AIDS Day and also the day that the Illinois State Senate passed the Civil Union Act.
Their lives, personally and professionally, are intertwined through their long medical fight against HIV/AIDS—and the fact they were married during the interval when gay marriages were legal in California in 2008.
But soon they might be able to remarry in their home state.
"There are many aspects to World AIDS Day, most personally for me it has been a time to pause and remember the many dear friends and patients that were lost in the early years of the epidemic," said Moore, 61. "Their courage and fight, the web of supportive and caring relationships they wove, will always be a foundation of support and courage for me in my own life and in helping others face hard times. It's about remembering, for me."
Added Blatt, 60: "Lori Cannon said that for some of us, every day is World AIDS Day. It does seem as though the pandemic has dominated David's and my lives since it began. So many friends and patients have been directly or indirectly affected, as has the world more generally. When we were first involved, many people did not want to deal with the problem, but the need was great, and I feel good that we were part of another large group of folks who did get very much involved.
"To this day, the relationships with fellow caregivers and patients remain hugely meaningful to both of us."
Moore and Blatt, partners, groundbreaking medical practitioners and advocates in HIV/AIDS care, and known for their personal attention to their patients, were inducted into the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2007—and now they are officially retiring.
"The outpouring of kind expressions of appreciation during this time of retirement has been humbling," Blatt said. "The incredible nurses and others with whom we have shared this labor are such a special group."
Moore and Blatt are, perhaps, best known for creating the exemplary Unit 371 at Illinois Masonic Medical Center—and their AIDS work with patients, their partners and family members. The two even made house calls.
Unit 371 became a model for AIDS units at medical centers across the United States.
"I never dared to hope, back then, for the progress which has already been made," in the fight against AIDS, Blatt said. "Most of my patients have been doing great, and have been able to carry on with their lives. It has been a really good experience to give honest hope to the people for whom I have cared since the improvements in therapy became available. The treatments, though they obviously can be difficult for some, need to be way more widely available around the world. Because the treatment is so effective, it drives me nuts when the drugs are not available to people in some of the most severely affected regions of the world.
"I think I speak for both of us, and many others, when I acknowledge the centrality of relationship. At the risk of sounding like a moron about 'life is with people' type of sentiment, I think that is true, and the relationships people have in their own lives, and/or with their doctors, are crucial for people to stick with the motive to do well."
Blatt grew up in Indianapolis in the 1950s and 1960s, and began his medical career by working in the emergency room of the local public hospital, Marion County General, as an orderly. He graduated from Harvard College and The George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and then moved to Chicago for a residency at Cook County Hospital—and that's where he met Moore.
Moore is a 1971 honors graduate of Southern Illinois University, and he earned his doctorate at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1975. After his Cook County Hospital internship and residency, he earned his board certification in internal medicine, worked as a teaching attending internist at Mount Sinai Hospital, and in 1981 joined with Blatt to form their partnership practice. Moore also held teaching appointments at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and at Rush Medical College.
"I will miss my patients very much," Moore said. "The practice has been an extended family to me, and I look forward to continuing some of those friendships into the future.
"The tragedy of AIDS in the early days offered the ability to contribute and work with dedicated folks of all kinds, faiths and professions toward a shared goal of support of those with illness. I don't know that that response would be possible in the medical business model today. In some ways, in the worst of times we found the best of ourselves in both the gay and medical communities.
"I was incredibly fortunate to meet my life partner so early in my life, and to have shared so much of what has brought substance and meaning to us both. David Blatt is not only my best friend and companion, but my role model for what it means to be a physician and a human being. I will always fall short of what I idealize about him. That respect and admiration are strong components of our relationship."
The Blatt—Moore internal medicine practice, located on Halsted Street in Lakeview, focused on gay-health issues from day one—and still did in 2010, some 25 years later. They treated, comforted and nourished patients who, in many cases, were also their close friends, and sadly many died along the way.
"The most striking turning point in AIDS as a care giver was the introduction of the protease inhibitors in the mid 1990s, along with the ability to measure the amount of virus present," Moore said. "We began then to have the tools necessary to suppress the virus and allow immune system recovery. That changed the literal face of AIDS in this country, hopefully forever, certainly more meaningfully than anything short of a cure. Prevention, of course, is the ultimate weapon."
Moore said retirement certainly will allow him time to read more than medical journals, study piano and learn to speak Spanish.
"Most of my free time is spent improving my skills at classical piano and my goal is to perform with other chamber musicians," Moore said. "The voice one can give to the world through musical expression is unique and I find it very rewarding."
Added Blatt: "I realized this [is the time to retire] in a quite peaceful way, although I will miss my patients and colleagues immensely. [Still,] I am certainly hoping to maintain many of these relationships as lifetime friendships. I am the luckiest guy in the world, in the history of the world—and that's on a bad day. I don't [say that with] arrogance, but as just indeed being lucky and grateful."
After all, Blatt started working as an emergency room orderly at age 15, in a busy public hospital.
Now he can exhale. Now they both can exhale.
"Over the last six years or so, my other interest—becoming a paramedic—has become a huge passion," Blatt said. "I so respect the intense, demanding, highest quality work I see that group of colleagues perform and am eager to continue accompanying them.
"I suppose it is also time for me to begin exercising, something I haven't done in a year that begins with a '2.'
"David and I put a lot of effort and thought, from early on as out gay doctors, into trying to parse the good from the creepy aspects of professionalism. Maintaining healthy boundaries without stuffy hierarchy continues throughout life to be a work in progress."
