A Division of Cornerstone Family Healthcare
I’m Doing It. Testing for HIV.
HVCS is collaborating with Walgreens in Poughkeepsie, located at 827 Dutchess Turnpike, for National HIV Testing Day (June 27th). Our team will be on site from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm for free confidential HIV testing, information on PrEP, as well as HIV prevention, care and treatment. We are partnering with Greater Than AIDS for this community event.
You’re invited to Hudson Valley Community Services’ open house and breakfast reception at our Hawthorne headquarters! Join us for light breakfast fare, coffee, tea and juices on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 between 8:00 am and 10:00 am. Stop in on your way to work for a quick tour, meet our staff and say hello, and learn a little bit about our programs and services. There is no cost to attend.
Our Hawthorne headquarters is located at 40 Saw Mill River Road, on the right side of the building. Our front door is at the top of the outdoor curved staircase. (There is not an entrance to our office from the main building entrance.) Parking is available on all sides of the building.
Please RSVP to Anthony at (914) 785-8277 or by email. We look forward to seeing you on June 12th for the start of a wonderful day!
Special thanks to ShopRite in Thornwood, NY for donating supplies and beverages!
This year, we celebrate our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Non-Binary, and Queer Latinx communities in downtown Haverstraw, NY with live music, dancing, food, vendors, children’s activities including Drag Queen Story Hour, and more! [Este año celebramos nuestras comunidades de lesbianas, gays, bisexuales, transexuales, no binarios y queer Latinx en el centro de Haverstraw, Nueva York, con música en vivo, bailes, comida, vendedores, actividades para niños, como Drag Queen Story Hour, ¡y mucho más!]
During the month of June the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center hosts over a dozen events and activities in honor and celebration of Pride Month and there are plenty of ways to get involved. See below for other Pride Month events.
In February of 2004 the same-sex weddings performed by then New Paltz Mayor Jason West and local clergy pushed the lesbian gay bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) community to the forefront in New York and across the nation. Those weddings led to the first New Paltz Pride March & Festival held in June 2005 which in turn led to the formation of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center. The Pride March & Festival has continued to grow ever since.
During the month of June the Center hosts over a dozen events and activities in honor and celebration of Pride Month. Check out the Pride Guide in May to get a full listing and description of all events, plus more information about marshals, sponsors, and elected officials.
Save the dates! Locations and links to be announced.
May 12th: Tea Dance Kick-Off
May 31st: Pride Dance Party & Drag Show
June 1st: Re-Paint the Town Proud
June 1st: Art Opening: “The Out List”
June 1st: Pride Opening Reception & Volunteer Recognition Event
June 2nd: Pride March & Festival
June 8th: Pride Picnic
June 10th: Geek Pride Game Night
June 20th: Know Your Rights: GENDA and Human Rights Laws
June 21st: Youth Pride Dance Party
June 22nd: Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde
June 24th: SAGE Table Intergenerational Meal
June 29th: Film Screening at Kingston Library
And more! Stay tuned for even more Pride events and programs.
POUGHKEEPSIE PRIDE WEEKEND 2019
Presented by Dutchess Pride Center
SUNDAY JUNE 9, 2019
PRIDE PARADE:
Line up 12 Noon on Market Street
Pride Parade kicks off 1-2pm
If you are interested in Marching in the Parade, please fill out this form here
PRIDE FESTIVAL
1-5pm, Waryas Park
Food Vendors, Community Organizations and Live Music all day!
If you are interested in having a Table for your organization or business, please fill out this form here
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Is your business interested in being a sponsor or being listed in our Poughkeepsie Pride Guide, please fill out this form here
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Interested in volunteering, either in planning or the day of, please fill out this form here
Hudson Valley Community Services provides a range of services for people living with chronic illnesses–including case management. But what is case management? We say that phrase all the time in the social services field, but what does that mean?
Rather than try to define it, HVCS’ LaShonda Cyrus (who was promoted to Assistant Director of Client Services right after this video was made) shares an example of what it takes to connect people in need with the services that help them live their best life.
This video was animated and produced by Darell Green, a student at Dutchess Community College, as part of their Service Learning Program under the advisement of Prof. Holly McCabe.
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.
Sandy*, one of our clients in the Mid-Hudson region, is like a lot of people in her thirties: she was working several jobs to make ends meet, had no time to eat properly or exercise, had a few minor health problems that she ignored. She was definitely not focused on her health. That is, until she became HIV-positive.
She didn’t want to see a doctor about it, and was not on HIV medications at all. Our Health Home care manager Maria knew that Sandy needed a lot of emotional support and encouragement to start HIV treatment—and she also knew that Sandy’s health was in great danger if she continued to ignore her HIV-positive status. “I don’t have time for that. I’m too tired,” Sandy would say. Maria was extremely patient with Sandy and, after months of building trust, she eventually got Sandy to see that her health mattered. Sandy finally went to see an HIV specialist and got on treatment.
Thanks to her doctor and Maria, Sandy is now virally suppressed—with no detectable HIV in her blood—and is now connected to a whole host of health resources. Maria reports that Sandy is doing very well.
*Not her real name
Since continued funding was uncertain during the recent government shutdown, the SNAP program (Supplemental Nutrition Access Program, formerly known as food stamps) handed out February benefits in January. The caveat for recipients, however, was that they were expected to spread those benefits over six weeks instead of four–but for a hungry family, that can be a challenge. Now that the shutdown is over, clients may have gone through their SNAP funds already–and face a food shortage for the end of the month.
We weren’t about to sit back and let this happen, of course. HVCS is assisting clients in this situation through the food closet program. With support from generous donors, corporations and foundations, we’re offering our clients double the amount of food bags this month.
According to Hunger Solutions New York, which funds our Nutrition Outreach and Education Program, in March SNAP benefits will be issued early in order to assist SNAP participants to bridge the gap between the January payments and their regularly scheduled March benefits. All March SNAP benefits will be issued by March 7th.
We are committed to ensuring that clients and their families have enough nutritious food to eat no matter what happens in Washington.