HACKENSACK – Maryann Collins began working as a nurse at Hackensack University Medical Center caring for HIV/AIDS patients and their families more than 25 years ago because she felt “no one needed more advocacy than this particular group of people.”

Collins, a Demarest resident, was recently honored as a national HIV Hero, for her work with the HIV community.

She first became interested in helping the HIV community when she was a hospice nurse.

“Most of the patients that we saw were cancer patients,” said Collins. “But then we started to see the patients coming from the city with this new disease that they really at that point didn’t have a name for.”

Once HIV/AIDS patients began coming to the hospital HUMC started a hospice to see these patients. However, many nurses had husbands who were dead set against them working with these patients.

“There was a lot of ignorance,” said Collins. “I felt that someone had to do it and my husband was very supportive of me and trusted that I was going to be safe and he supported whatever I wanted to do in that area.”

Collins took it upon herself to get educated – she went to New York City and then to San Francisco to learn as much as possible about HIV. She received her master’s degree in psychiatric nursing and her specialty in catastrophic illnesses from Pace University, and become known as the hospice AIDS nurse.

As a result of caring for HIV/AIDS patients, Collins began to connect with “New Jersey Buddies” and was approached to start a support group on Wednesday evenings.

“I agreed to do it for a little while and now I am still doing it,” she said.

But the support group Collins started was only the beginning.