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

SAVE THE DATE
For these Important area events!

For More Information call 379-8203

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rolling in the Living Affected

LA Corp Publishing Wing Produces New Paper
Community dialog and concerns have been the subject of numerous meetings, workshops or round
table discussions. Among the most talked about "need" for the LGBTQ community was the desire for a local newspaper dedicated to addressing challenges and issues impacting gay Arkansans. That void is being filled with the launch of The READ  which will began circulating its premier first edition Friday, March 28.

Cornelius Mabin, Executive Producer of the long running online blog, CorneliusOnpoint,(www.corneliusonpoint.blogspot.com) commonly referred to as COP 24/7  has been tapped as Managing Editor of the periodical. The paper will feature an assortment of hard news, columns, community announcements and "infotainment," to offer the widest possible coverage across Arkansas and the mid-south.

Mabin stated, "for some time I kept hearing that if we "only" had a newspaper...and so now that we now have it, I'm hoping that it will do its part in keeping everyone informed or entertained in some way. Our first run of 1000 copies will set the tone of how we move forward." He concluded, "we have capacity to build what ever we want if we can find common ground, as well as mutual perspectives to do so. At this time we are preparing to publish monthly depending on our success metrics."

Currently the roster of contributors include Tonya Estell, Sara Strickland, Terrene Sain, Michael Henderson, Mikaltodd Wilson and Keith Jones among others who will be apart of the team producing the monthly tabloid. "I'm very proud of our first edition and looking forward to getting this out into the area," said Tonya Estell. "It almost surreal that we brainstormed at a kitchen table and then made it happen!" Other's interested in submitting content contributions should contact Tonya Estell at tonya.estell@gmail.com

Under the LA Corp Publishing banner, The READ is the latest publication produced by The Living Affected Corporation. The entity has produced two periodicals included the ground breaking "Our Lives, Our Stories, The Untold Stories of Women with AIDS," and the first LGBTQ health Journal, Omnibus. "I'm excited about this new venture" said, Publisher, Diedra Levi. "Not having a local paper was a missing link that needed to be done based on the conversations that I was apart of. Therefore we moved ahead to make it a reality with high hopes that we get enthusiastic support from advertisers and contributors throughout the community."  The next expanded issue is scheduled for a May 2014 release.

COP 24/7 will be cross pollinating both its digital platform in conjunction with the new monthly piece. An official The Read launch party planning is underway and will be announced across all online portals. The new publication has affordable advertising rates for both color or black and white. Also individuals can support through various levels from Patron at $25 to the World Changer level at the $10,000 or more benchmark. For more information call Melina Granger, 501-349-7776 or 877-902-7448.

Observing LGBT Health Awareness Week

statement by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

LGBT Health Awareness Week is an important time to bring attention to the unique health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans and to highlight the progress we’ve made in our work to ensure LGBT Americans have the same rights and protections as other Americans, especially through implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

It’s critical for the LGBT community and all Americans to remember that Monday, March 31 is the last day of open enrollment and those who miss out can’t get covered through the Marketplace until 2015.

Access to affordable care has long been an obstacle to good health and financial security for the LGBT community and all Americans. On average, LGBT Americans suffer from higher rates of cancer, obesity, HIV/AIDS and mental illness than the rest of the nation. For those with chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS, dollar caps on annual and lifetime coverage meant astronomical bills and debt for many in the community.

But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, it is a new day. Lifetime and annual dollar caps are a thing of the past and no one can be denied coverage based on their health history.
Legally married couples are treated equally when it comes to coverage or financial assistance, no matter who they are married to. And, for the first time, Marketplace coverage is now affordable for the LGBT community and Americans all over the country.
Remember: Monday, March 31 is the last day of enrollment – that’s only five days left to get everyone covered who still needs it.

This Administration is committed to improving the health of all Americans, including LGBT Americans, and we look forward to continuing this work during LGBT Health Awareness Week and beyond.

Keping the Living Affected Flame Burning

President Obama Announces Douglas M. Brooks, MSW, as Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy

 President Obama announced the appointment of Douglas M. Brooks, MSW, as the Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP). A leading HIV/AIDS policy expert, Douglas most recently served as Senior Vice President for Community, Health, and Public Policy at the
Justice Resource Institute (JRI).  As the Director of ONAP, he will lead the Administration’s work to reduce new HIV infections, improve health outcomes for people living with HIV, and eliminate HIV health disparities in the United States.

“Douglas’s policy expertise combined with his extensive experience working in the community makes him uniquely suited to the task of helping to achieve the goal of an AIDS-free generation, which is within our reach,” President Obama said.  “I look forward to having him lead our efforts from the White House.”

A component of the White House Domestic Policy Council, ONAP coordinates the ongoing implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy  and the HIV Care Continuum initiative, while working together with public and private partners to advance the federal response to HIV/AIDS. ONAP also works with the White House National Security Council,  the State Department’s Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, and international bodies to ensure that America’s response to the global pandemic is fully integrated with prevention, care, and treatment efforts around the world. Through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative, the U.S. has made enormous progress in responding to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, working with countries heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS to help expand access to treatment, care, and prevention.

Brooks, a person living with HIV, was most recently the Senior Vice President for Community, Health, and Public Policy at JRI , a health and human service agency based in Boston. He served as executive director of the Sidney Borum Jr. Community Health Center at JRI, has managed programs in urban and rural environments and has served as a consultant to domestic and international governments and non-governmental organizations assisting their efforts  to serve populations living with and at greatest risk for HIV/AIDS. Brooks was a Visiting Fellow at the McCormack School Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and was Chair of the Board of Trustees of AIDS United in Washington, DC.

In 2010, Brooks was appointed to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and served as its liaison to the CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee and successfully led those bodies to achieve the tasks assigned to them in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy .  He has directly managed federally funded programs, meeting or exceeding targets for Ryan White projects, CDC Prevention for African American/Black youth, a HRSA Special Project of National Significance (SPNS), and a HOPWA SPNS. Brooks received a Master of Social Work degree from Boston University and is a licensed clinical social worker.

 

Seeking New Horizons

Empowering Entrepreneurs

by Casey Halter

How an HIV intervention grew into a microenterprise.

 

When Vanessa Johnson was diagnosed with HIV in 1990, she did not come across a lot of stories of African Americans like herself living with the virus. “I knew there were other women out there, but they just wouldn’t come out,” she says. So Johnson worked to change that. Living in Albany, New

As she worked in the field, Johnson observed that when women finally did come out to talk about their history, they didn’t talk about HIV specifically. Instead, she recalls, “when women told their stories, they talked about their childhood.

And just like me, they suffered a lot of trauma in the form of abuse. I thought about it intuitively and was like, ‘This is a common thread.’”

Thus, in 2007 she launched Common Threads, what is now a five-day, small-group training session that she offers around the country. It’s designed to help HIV-positive women connect the dots between their life experiences and their positive status and then to increase their willingness to tell their stories and disclose their status to their families, friends and communities. It’s storytelling as a means for disclosure, self-empowerment, HIV prevention and activism.

When an HIV-positive woman is faced with the stigma, shame, fear and misunderstanding of her diagnosis, one of the most difficult, yet most empowering things she can find is her own voice, says Johnson, who now lives in Washington, DC, and whose main job is consulting for AIDS services organizations including governmental agencies and faith-based groups through the Ribbon Consulting Group, which she founded.

Whenever possible, Johnson takes the Common Threads sessions, funded in the beginning by the U.S. Office on Women’s Health, on the road to budding activists living with the virus. Participants must be on HIV treatment and involved in an AIDS service organization, which usually helps fund the trainings. To date, more than 100 women across the United States have graduated from Johnson’s program, ranging from Washington, DC, and New York City to the states of Louisiana and South Carolina.

In 2012, funding ran out, leaving the program and its graduates, who also require money to support their travel and outreach, in dire straits. But the empowered women devised a way to help fund themselves and their healthy lifestyles: by launching microenterprises in which they make and sell jewelry and other wares. Today, teaching that business aspect is an integral part of the retreats.

York, at the time, she became an activist dedicated to helping women disclose their positive status and tell their stories. To read more about this project go to www.poz.com

There are 16 days left to get enrolled! Call 379-8203 for updates and information!

 

Soaring to New Heights

We Are Empowered!: Southern Women on Women

Southern Women on Women will be hosting its first recognition of National Women's & Girls HIV AIDS Awareness Day, Saturday March 8, 2014, 12-4, 401 North Maple Street, North Little Rock inside the First Presbyterian Church of Argenta. 
" We are every excited to use this event as our inaugural large scale program." said Tonya E.  She continued, " it our hope that this program will continue to empower women in our service area."

Under the auspices of The Living Affected Corporation, Southern WOW was designed as outlet for "women who love women," to come together to share their lived experiences and address some the challenges and barriers that exist. Currently the group has scheduled small group "coffee and conversation," meetings as well as bi-weekly "girls night out" meet ups.  Melina G, "We are concern with numerous issues such as violence, economic injustice and certainly how HIV has and is still affecting women, especially women of color communities."

Of the more than 1.1 million people living with HIV in the U.S. today, one in four is a woman. Women of color have been especially hard hit, accounting for the majority of new infections occurring among women in the U.S. There has been some good news when it comes to women and HIV in the U.S. with a reported significant 21% decrease in new infections among American women in recent years.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (March 10) is coordinated by the Office on Women’s Health (OWH), within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, alongside many organizations that play a critical role in the observance in communities across the nation. Greater Than AIDS is proud to support the efforts our partners across the nation in the outreach efforts on this day by making available free informational and promotional materials for community groups to use around awareness days. Items for National Women and Girl’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day are free, for download, or for low cost from vendors.

To help engage and reach women year-round, Greater Than AIDS also offers Empowered, a campaign developed with Alicia Keys that affirms the power of women — as mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, partners and people living with HIV – to change the course of this disease through every day actions. The cross-platform campaign includes public service ads (PSAs), social media promotions, informational materials, and more. “We Are Empowered,” an inspiring half-hour video of Ms. Keys in conversation with five women living with HIV, is available for community screenings and discussion. For more information on Southern WOW, call 501.379-8203 or check out their Facebook page.

Don't forget that you can still enroll until March 31, 2014! Call us at 349-7777 to schedule a educational outreach or enrollment event! We are here to serve the LGBTQI community and beyond!
Hit us up on Facebook or www.livingaffected.org