TAKING AIM AT PORN HEALTH RISKS EX-STAR WORKS TO PROVIDE HIV TESTING, MEDICAL CARE FOR INDUSTRY PERFORMERS.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

SHERMAN OAKS - For more than 20 years, Sharon Mitchell was one of the biggest stars in the adult-film industry.

She loved the money and the fame, but with it came a longtime drug addiction.

Now, Mitchell's role has changed.

With the help of a tiny staff and contributions from the San Fernando Valley's vast porn industry, Mitchell runs the Adult Industry Medical (AIM) clinic in Sherman Oaks, a nonprofit foundation providing health care for film performers and others in the adult-entertainment industry.

``You have to follow the path that the universe has laid out for you,'' Mitchell said. ``I didn't know this was mine.''

After a string of HIV cases struck the industry in the late '90s, Mitchell was the driving force in creating industry standards for testing and protection of adult-film performers.

Though her work might fly under the radar screen of the mainstream health care industry, Mitchell has earned enough respect that she was recently invited by the government of South Africa to a conference addressing the AIDS epidemic in that nation's sex industry.

``Africa was amazing,'' said Mitchell, now in her mid-40s and forever known as ``Miss Sharon'' to her fans. ``I thought, 'What is my little program going to do in this vast population?' But we were able to go over there and give them a voice.''

It is a long way from where Mitchell started.

She made her first adult film at age 17, and soon thereafter began a 20- year battle with heroin. By 1996, she had hit bottom. Her addiction landed her in a Ventura Boulevard flophouse, and she was almost killed in an attack by a crazed fan.

``I was fortunate that I had friends in this business. I had run out of money, and it was the end of the line,'' Mitchell said.

With the help of friends, she got sober. She enrolled in college, eventually earning certificates as a chemical dependency specialist, HIV counselor, licensed medical assistant and certified phlebotomist.

She has been accepted to the Antioch University graduate studies program.

Open about her past and how fortunate she was to survive her addiction and the high-risk activity, she wants to help other performers avoid the same traps.

``I'm really good with needles,'' she jokes, referring to her experiences with heroin addiction. ``I never miss a vein.''

Mitchell began counseling adult-film stars about addiction and sexual health. By 1998, industry figures and a local physician helped her found AIM.

The first meetings were held in a warehouse full of pornographic videotapes (the industry estimates 11,000 new titles came out last year). Three years later, the clinic is housed in a nondescript storefront on Ventura Boulevard.

On a recent morning, Mitchell worked through a typically busy schedule. She had classes in the morning, an appointment with a medical waste specialist and a number of scheduled AIDS tests for performers.

``Coming here, you don't have to worry about explaining why you need the test or going through any hassles,'' said Sabrina, a 25-year-old who appears in films with her husband, Buddy.

The couple is among the estimated 100 newcomers each month in the industry.

It is exactly this clientele that the AIM clinic serves. Because of Mitchell's efforts, every adult-film actor must have an AIDS test every 30 days to perform. The tests catch about five new HIV cases every year.

Each performer fills out an information sheet, which Mitchell adds into a ``genealogy'' database that tracks every performer that actor has worked with.

The performer is then issued a photo identification certificate with the test results, allowing them to work in the films.

Even then, the industry has practices that put itself at risk. If an actress is offered $1,000 for a day of filming, the producer will most likely offer a $200 bonus for doing the work without a condom.

Officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services say the clinic is an important health resource because it reaches a high-risk community that county clinics cannot reach.

``If AIM was not doing it, it wouldn't be getting done,'' said Dr. Peter Kerndt, director of sexually transmitted disease programs for the county.

``The fact that it is being done from within, and that Sharon has the trust of workers in that industry is the reason for its success. This is successful to the extent that it has become the industry standard.''

Kerndt said the clinic has implications beyond the adult-entertainment industry, as the disease prevention efforts help STDs from being transmitted to a wider community.

``We are not here to judge anyone,'' he said. ``We are here to treat everyone that we can. Our mission is to control the spread in every community, and if AIM helps out, we welcome that.''

The center operates under close medical supervision, led by Dr. Steven York of Mission Hills. York became interested in the adult industry as a niche clientele, but soon realized how dangerous the practices were.

``At first, AIM created a lot of tension within the industry. Everyone was looking for our ulterior motive,'' York said. ``But Mitch was someone that they could trust. She can be very forceful in a way to be much admired.''

But not everyone approves of the clinic's operations. Opponents note that preventing the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases can be achieved by avoiding promiscuous sexual contact in the first place.

``We are grateful that action has been taken to take care of the employees in the industry, but just hearing about it underscores the dangers that are inherent in that business,'' said Barbara Steffens, the vice president of victim assistance for the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, an anti-pornography activist group based in Cincinnati.

There are also opponents in the adult-film industry itself, who fear that the clinic could be a first step toward workers unionizing and cutting into their bottom line.

But for the large film companies, AIM has become an integral part of doing business in an industry famous for unsavory practices.

``This is a business that has always been a bunch of rebels and nonconformists, and the biggest challenge for Mitch was to bring some cohesiveness to these standards,'' said Jane Hamilton, a former film star known as Veronica Hart, who now produces and directs movies for VCA, one of the largest adult-film companies.

``What she does is to help keep everyone as safe as can be in what is a fairly risky business.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Former adult film performer Sharon Mitchell, left, prepares to take a blood sample from actress Sabrina at her AIM health care clinic in Sherman Oaks.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer