Soaring for New Heights

The READ Rolls on Arkansas

The READ will be stepped off at The New Six Ten last Friday evening and the
resounding enthusiasm and congratulatory spirit was electric. "I'm so excited about this launch and the turn out for it." said Editorial Director Tonya Estell. She continued, " we put a lot of work into this as well as tried to cover as much of the community as possible. I hope that moving forward we will continue to get the support of everyone." 

This new venture was an outgrowth of community assessments and other dialog that expressed a need for a "community newspaper," that would be LGBTQ focused and driven. Consequently LA Corp Publishing an off shoot of community based organization, The Living Affected Corporation made the decision to add the periodical as another publishing effort in its catalog of published items that included Arkansas's first LGBTQ health journal, Omnibus in 2012.

After numerous rough drafts and other minor set backs, the staff went into overdrive trying to get every possible angel covered while serving advertising interest. To date the newspaper has secured significant sponsorship from I-30 Liquor and additional ad support from the Human Right Campaign, The New 610 Lounge, Inz & Outtz and Body Clinic Little Rock.

The staff further reported that this version of the newspaper grew to a 20 pager featuring local entertainer spotlights, gossip column, human interest stories and community resources. Advertising rates and information can be obtained from calling 501.379-8203 or reaching out to info@livingaffected.org  An online version of the publication will be scaling up with some possible exclusive coverage that ay not appear in the hard copy. Check out the site at www.theread.net and stay tuned to COP 24/7 for all the updates.

Mid South Conference Announces Agenda


The 2014 Saving Ourselves Symposium, Thursday, June 5 and Friday, June 6 will be the Black Gay Men’s Technical Assistance Meeting. The technical assistance workshops are designed for traditional and non-traditional stakeholders working with Black Gay Men in a effort to improve their overall health outcomes.  Workshops include topics such as Culture Sensitivity, Faith & Black Gay Men, Bio-medical Prevention,  Mental Health, Exploring Sub-cultures and Building Rapport with Black Gay Men, to name a few. 

Plenary discussions during the 2014 Saving Ourselves Symposium will be hosted by Young Black Gay Men's Leadership Initiative, AVAC, Intimacy & Colour and Gilead Sciences. SpeakOut will be the topic for the Twitter Town Hall Meeting on Friday night, June 6, 2014.  SpeakOut will convey the need for black gay/bi-sexual and same gender loving men to speak out about their relationships, their health and for their communities in the South.  This discussion will be interactive by using #SpeakOut on twitter.

Saturday morning will involve community level workshops on topics such as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), Finance Management, Interpersonal Relationships, Spirituality and Sexuality,  Self-Care, Social Media Activism  and Leading with Passion.  Schedule of events available here.

Sponsors for the 2014 Saving Ourselves Symposium are Gilead Sciences, Southland Park Gaming and Racing, Tennessee AETC, James Anderson Lester, King Rose Consulting, Young Black Gay Men's Leadership Initiative,  Positively Aware, Family Safety Center, WellsConsulting Events and Graphics, Dr. LaShunda Thompson, Studio1524 Salon Luxury Furniture and iSmile Family Dentistry, Inc.  and the Human Rights Campaign. Sponsorship opportunities and vendor space is still available. Contact trdfmemphis@gmail.com to request information.

 

Affordable Care Act: From Coverage to Care

The Living Affected Corporation was a successful entity serving as an access point to directly educate and enroll individuals in the program. Uniquely LA Corp was the only African American-LGBTQ owned and operated agency to be awarded such a service contract in Arkansas. The agency was required to serve a target of 2800 individuals throughout a seven county area. Coupling educating and enrolling participants also allowed the agency to further serve its client base around sexual health disparities and community capacity building.

Although open enrollment has concluded, the group continues to follow up, educate and assist individuals who have encountered problems or challenges. With updates continuing to be forwarded the company has been instrumental in disbursing the latest information and or interactive portals for those seeking more information. The group would like to share the following:

Interactive Webinars on the Health Care Law

The HHS Partnership Center has updated webinars on the health care law for faith and community leaders. All webinars are open to the public and include a question and answer session.
To participate in one of the webinars, please select your preferred topic from the list below and submit the necessary information. Please click on the title of the webinar and fill out the registration form. After registering you will receive an e-mail confirmation containing information about joining the webinar. Please contact us at ACA101@hhs.gov if you have problems registering or if you have any questions about the health care law. All webinars are one hour.

Special Enrollment Periods and Resources for the Uninsured

Thursday, May 29 at 1 p.m. ET

(Noon CT, 11 a.m. MT, 10 a.m. PT)

To Join By Phone Only, Dial 1-646-307-1706, Access Code: 564-494-667

For those joining by phone only, the Pin Number is the # key.

The health care law has created special enrollment periods for those who experience special circumstances such as graduating from college and losing health insurance, getting married and needing coverage for a spouse, losing employer insurance or turning 26 and losing coverage on a parent’s health plan. Join this webinar to learn more about special enrollment periods and how to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace. For those who are uninsured and don’t qualify for the special enrollment period, learn what resources are available and when and how to enroll in the Health Insurance Marketplace. Please email ACA101@hhs.gov by May 29 at 10 a.m. ET with any questions.
 

Got Coverage? Next Steps in Using Your Health Insurance

Wednesday, June 4 at 2 p.m. ET

 (1 p.m. CT, Noon MT, 11 a.m. PT)

To Join By Phone Only, Dial: 1-415-655-0057, Access Code: 141-203-101

For those joining by phone only, the Pin Number is the # key.

Many people now have health insurance but may not know how to use it. This webinar and conference call will discuss how to read your insurance card, how to find a doctor, what you need to know in making an appointment and what to do in case you have a health emergency. Key terms will be discussed as well as recommended health screenings. Please send your questions to ACA101@hhs.gov prior to June 4 at Noon ET.

Raising Awareness of The Living Affected

Save the Date!! 

You do not want to miss this fabulous event that will set a new stage of communication excellence in Arkansas!

call us at 379-8203 for more information or hit us up info@livingaffected.org

 

 

New Guidelines Strengthen HIV Screening and Prevention for Women

May 14, 2014 • 0 comments • By Ronald Valdiserri, M.D., M.P.H., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, and Director, Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. Ronald Valdiserri

During this week’s observance of National Women’s Health Week, I want to highlight some important new guidelines for physicians and other healthcare providers that will help expand and improve HIV screening and prevention services for women in the United States.

ACOG’s HIV Expert Work Group Releases Committee Opinions on HIV in Women

Last month, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)  released two Committee Opinions on HIV in women: one lowering the recommended age for HIV screening, and one addressing prevention of HIV transmission through pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Representing the considered views of the sponsoring committee based on interpretation of published data in peer-reviewed journals, these two Committee Opinions were developed with the assistance of ACOG’s HIV Expert Work Group and reflect emerging clinical and scientific advances in HIV prevention for women.

 

Lowering the Recommended Age for HIV Screening

Previous ACOG guidelines recommended that HIV testing for women begin at age 19. The College’s updated Committee Opinion, “Routine Human Immunodeficiency Virus Screening ,” now mirrors the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)  recommendation that all females ages 13 to 64 be tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime and annually thereafter based on factors related to risk. Additionally, new opinion recommends that ob-gyne doctors annually review their patients’ risk factors for HIV and assess their need for testing, and that women found to be HIV-positive receive or be referred for appropriate clinical and supportive care.

 

The updated Committee Opinion is an important step toward achieving the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which calls upon us to identify everyone in the United States who is infected with HIV so that we can get them into care. In the United States, there are approximately 200,000 people who are living with HIV who haven’t been diagnosed and are thus unable to take advantage of life-extending HIV care. Obstetricians and gynecologists provide primary and preventive care to their patients, and are often the only healthcare professionals that women see regularly. Thus, they are ideally suited to play an important role in identifying women who are HIV positive and linking them into HIV care as soon as possible.

 

Addressing HIV Prevention through PrEP

ACOG’s second Committee Opinion, “Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for the Prevention of Human Immunodeficiency Virus,”  addresses the use of PrEP in combination with other proven HIV prevention methods as a useful HIV prevention strategy for women at the highest risk for becoming infected with HIV. PrEP, the once-daily dose of antiretroviral medications to HIV-negative individuals who are at very high risk of becoming infected, has been proven to be an effective biomedical intervention for reducing the risk of HIV acquisition among adult men and women at very high risk for HIV infection through sex or injecting drug use. The CDC has recommended PrEP for adults at high risk of HIV infection and for people who use injection drugs as part of a comprehensive HIV-prevention strategy.

 

ACOG’s new Committee Opinion states that potential candidates for PrEP are HIV-negative women who have a male sexual partner who is HIV positive and/or women who engage in sexual activity within a high HIV-prevalence area or social network, and who have one or more of the following risk factors:

• Inconsistent or no condom use;
• Diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections;
• Engagement in transactional sex (i.e, sex for money, drugs, or other forms of payment);
• Use of intravenous drugs or alcohol dependence or both; and/or
• Partners of unknown HIV status with any of the factors previously listed.

The Committee Opinion also recommends that ob-gyn doctors involved in the care of women using PrEP reinforce the importance of adhering to the daily anti-viral medication regimen and that physicians remain aware of new developments in this area as guidance for PrEP is likely to evolve in the coming years. Indeed, the U.S. Public Health Service guidelines on PrEP are expected to be released later this summer.

Quality Family Planning Services Recommended by CDC and HHS Office of Population Affairs

Also noteworthy, last month, CDC and the HHS Office of Population Affairs released updated, evidence-informed guidelines for the delivery of family planning services. The guidelines, Providing Quality Family Planning Services: Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Office of Population Affairs, were published as a CDC MMWR Recommendations and Reports [PDF 1.18MB]. The primary audience for this report is all current or potential providers of family planning services, including those working in service sites that are dedicated to family planning service delivery, such as those funded by the Title X program, as well as private and public providers of more comprehensive primary care. The recommendations outline how to provide quality family planning services, which include contraceptive services, pregnancy testing and counseling, helping clients achieve pregnancy, basic infertility services, preconception health services, and sexually transmitted disease services.

 

The family planning guidelines integrate clinical recommendations from a number of federal sources and professional medical associations and include important HIV, STD (sexually transmitted diseases) and viral hepatitis recommendations. Specifically, the updated family planning guidelines recommend that providers conduct routine, opt-out HIV screening for both male and female clients, in accordance with CDC’s HIV testing guidelines. They also recommend that when counseling clients about contraceptive methods, providers should address the importance of consistent and correct condom use in providing protection from STDs, including HIV.

 

The guidelines also incorporate important viral hepatitis prevention and screening recommendations for providers. Vaccination for hepatitis B is included among the STD services and preconception care detailed in the new guidelines. CDC and OPA recommend that hepatitis B vaccination should be offered to all unvaccinated children and adolescents under 19 years old and all adults who are unvaccinated and do not have any documented history of hepatitis B infection. In addition, the new family planning recommendations incorporate the CDC and USPSTF recommendations for screening persons at high risk for infection for hepatitis C and one-time screening for HCV infection for persons in the 1945–1965 birth cohort.

 

These new guidelines, coupled with the Affordable Care Act’s expanded coverage for clinical preventive services – which includes coverage for HIV screening for sexually active women as well as hepatitis B screening for pregnant women at their first prenatal visit – will help realize the promise of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for women in the United States.

- See more at: http://blog.aids.gov/2014/05/new-guidelines-strengthen-hiv-screening-and-prevention-for-women.html#sthash.jBcWB5wK.dpuf

Streaming Upward and Forward

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For these Important area events!

For More Information call 379-8203