A Division of Cornerstone Family Healthcare
In this episode of our new podcast, we discuss what PrEP & PEP are and how they both work. Plus learn about the rise of Hep A here in the Hudson Valley and how to protect yourself against a range of harmful sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
You can also listen to more episodes on Spotify, iTunes and other podcast platforms–subscribe today!
We are pleased to announce that the Peer Health Alliance has a new podcast all about safer sex, hooking up, and all sorts of fun topics.
“Parents Just Don’t Understand”…that’s why talking about sexual health with a PHA peer is so important. In this episode we talk about HVCS’ Peer Health Alliance or PHA program and what a “peer” is. Learn why it is important to get your difficult sexual health questions answered by someone like you, that gets you and has the training and resources to you need. There are some conversations you don’t want to have with even the coolest of moms!
Find more episodes here or listen on Spotify! and iTunes (other podcast platforms coming soon).
Hudson Valley Community Services has been awarded a grant for $22,000 from The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) in partnership with Macy’s. The grant will be used for HVCS’ Psychosocial Support Services (PSS) program, which is a unique vehicle to provide HIV-positive residents of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland with emotional and psychological support, support groups, and ensure they remain connected to care and community. Specifically, ETAF’s grant will fund art therapy and interactive journaling for the women’s support group. PSS began on March 1, 2019.
HVCS is honored to be recognized for our innovative approach in support of people affected by HIV and AIDS. “Hudson Valley Community Services is a powerful part of a collective effort to achieve an AIDS-free world, a world Elizabeth Taylor is still helping to realize through ETAF” said Catherine Brown, Executive Director of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. “ETAF and Macy’s are honored to support HVCS with these funds to continue our aligned goals of health equity and zero discrimination for all people living with or at risk for HIV and AIDS.”
Through their Cause Marketing Program, Thanks For Sharing, Macy’s recognizes their responsibility to support disadvantaged communities and the needs of their neighbors. They are proud to partner with ETAF and have contributed to this grant.
The Psychosocial Support Services program’s main funder is the Ryan White CARE Act, Part A, administered by Public Health Solutions.
About The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF)
Founded in 1991, The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) joins Elizabeth’s voice in the fight for social justice and human rights for people living with HIV and AIDS to achieve an AIDS-free world. Inspired by Elizabeth’s personal passion for the cause, in 2019 ETAF is focused on youth, women, children and families, ensuring they receive the direct care and support they need both domestically and in Malawi, the hotspot of the global epidemic. ETAF’s advocacy and awareness initiatives concentrate on elevating Elizabeth’s voice to secure care for the marginalized and social equity for all. To learn more or to make a donation please visit www.etaf.org.
Got questions about the latest ways to reduce your risk for HIV, STDs and hepatitis C? So do lots of our followers. Members of our Education & Prevention Department went live on Facebook to answer them. In this video, we covered PrEP, PEP, how risky certain sexual behaviors are (or not), and how to reach our programs for more services!
Need free testing services? Contact us at (845) 704-7624 — you can call OR text! ? You can also email us to set up an appointment.
Have you heard of the HIV Care Cascade?
Essentially, the HIV Care Cascade is a way we can measure the effectiveness of HIV treatment among HIV-positive people. The Cascade uses viral suppression as a measurement–and viral suppression is the medical state in which the number of copies of HIV in a person’s blood is so small that it can’t be detected by the best tests we have. If someone is virally suppressed, they can’t infect anyone else with HIV, so it’s good for them and their sexual partners!
The Cascade is an analysis of the steps or stages of HIV medical care that people living with HIV go through from initial diagnosis to achieving viral suppression. The metrics were developed by New York State’s “End the Epidemic” (ETE) Task Force to track and report to the public the state’s progress on the initiative.
There are four key metrics in the Cascade, including: the number of individuals who are diagnosed with HIV; the number who have evidence of medical care during the year; the number who are retained in care (visiting a doctor more than once per year), and the number who are virally suppressed.
So, how are we doing? Since you can apply the HIV Care Cascade to different groups, let’s look at New York State as a whole and HVCS clients.
As for NY, numbers are improving…
the overall state average of viral suppression is 72% of HIV-positive clients who received at least one viral load test in 2017.
But HVCS clients are beating the average. We recently compiled our own HIV Cascade for the first time, using 2017 data from some (not all) of our programs. 90% of HVCS clients with evidence of some medical care (they received at least one viral load test in 2017) are virally suppressed!
We work as hard as we can to assist our clients with accessing and staying connected to medical care to keep them–and the whole Hudson Valley–as healthy as possible.
Please join HRHCare Community Health for their first annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Celebration on February 7, 2019.
Get Tested
Get Educationed
Get PrEPed
For more information, contact Candice Melvin at (845) 260-0043.
He
lp us capture 24 hours in the lives of people affected by HIV
This Friday, Sept. 21, you can take part in A Day with HIV, an anti-stigma campaign organized by Positively Aware, the HIV treatment magazine.
A Day with HIV seeks to capture 24 hours in the lives of people affected by HIV and its stigma—that’s everyone, regardless of age, race, gender identity or health status. We know that through imagery and storytelling we can diminish isolation and stigma. Here’s how to participate:
1. Take a snapshot of your day this Friday. Post it on your social media using the hashtag, #adaywithhiv; include a caption giving the time and location of your photo, and what inspired you to take it.
2. Upload your photo entry at www.adaywithhiv.com or email it to photo@adaywithhiv.com—it’ll be added to the campaign’s online gallery and considered for publication in the November + December issue of Positively Aware. In addition, four high-resolution images will be selected for different versions of the cover.
Our campaign gives people the opportunity to share their stories through photography—whether as selfies or artistic images. We hope you will consider becoming a part of A Day with HIV. If you have any questions, please contact Rick Guasco at TPAN.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS recently awarded HVCS a $10,000 grant to help support our Client Assistance Program, which includes our emergency food and toiletry closets. This grant will be used to help more than 150 clients by providing personal care items, toiletries, and household cleaning products (including laundry detergent). Most of us consider these items to be basic necessities but are luxuries for our low-income clients.
The majority of the clients CAP serves are low income, and they typically spend 50% (30% is considered affordable) of their monthly gross income on rent payments. After the rent payment, monthly food purchases and utility payments are made, there is little or no money left to afford basic toiletries, household cleansers and laundry products.
These basic items are not funded by government or private assistance programs. For example, the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program (SNAP), which many of these clients are eligible for, does not cover personal hygiene and cleaning products, leaving many without access to these items. These items, however, are necessary not only to maintain a clean and stable home, but to bolster one’s personal health and wellbeing.
CAP also assists our HIV-positive housing program participants. When they move into new housing, the program is able to provide basic cleaning supplies so they can move into a sanitary environment.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS helps men, women and children across the country and across the street receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance.
We are extremely grateful for the ongoing assistance from BC/EFA and its fundraisers, such as the Hudson Valley Dance Festival.
Hudson Valley Community Services joins other HIV/AIDS organizations in condemning efforts to ban or otherwise avoid seven key words and phrases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in the process, erase the transgender community and diversity.
On Monday, December 18, 2017, five of the nation’s leading organizations focused on ending the HIV and STD epidemics in the United States – AIDS United, NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors, NMAC and The AIDS Institute – expressed alarm over reports that the Trump Administration barred staff at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) from using certain words in its FY2019 budget justification to Congress. Hudson Valley Community Services stands with them in opposition to this development.
It is now being reported that top officials merely suggested that the CDC avoid using the words as a technique to help secure Republican approval of the 2019 budget. Either way, we cannot do justice to all communities–especially those at the highest risk for HIV–by pandering to those squeamish of diversity.
The five organizations released a joint press release, stating: “While we continue to be in contact with the Administration, CDC, and other agencies regarding these reports, restrictions on these terms, in any manner, demonstrate this Administration’s troubling lack of commitment to science and we are seeking further clarification. Thanks to bipartisan support in Congress and the Executive Branch we have made incredible progress against HIV over the last decade. But budget proposals delineate policy priorities, and in rejecting science and evidence along with other commonly understood health language, this Administration calls into question its commitment to science and the health of all communities, including racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities.
“Discouraging use and reference to “evidence-based” or “science-based,” is concerning enough. However, any attempt to remove “transgender” and “diversity” from CDC vocabulary would represent an outright dereliction of the stated duties of the agency. Such efforts are unacceptable and cannot go unanswered. Transgender people and people of color live under constant threat of systemic and specific discrimination and violence. Erasing them from official CDC documents ensures ongoing discrimination and undermines the ability of CDC to effectively respond to their health needs.
“Evidence suggests the transgender community is particularly vulnerable to HIV and STDs. As citizens and residents of this nation, they should be treated with fairness and respect. As human beings, they are entitled to dignity and affirming care.”
HVCS joins AIDS United, NASTAD, NCSD, NMAC, and The AIDS Institute in their pledge to remain committed to ensuring that diversity is celebrated by our public health system and that its work is rooted in science, not politics. We stand with transgender staff, constituents, clients, and family, and will not relent in our demands that their health and the health of all marginalized and minority communities be prioritized by this Administration and the U.S. government.
Read their press release here.
More info:
AIDS United (AU), NASTAD, the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD), NMAC, and The AIDS Institute (TAI) are national non-partisan, non-profit organizations focused on ending HIV in the U.S. They have been working in partnership to identify and share resources to sustain successes and progress we have made in HIV and STD prevention, care and treatment in the United States.