A letter from the Director of Prevention.

December 1, 2009


Dear Community Partner:

As we celebrate World AIDS Day on December 1, 2009, it is important that we do not forget about HIV/AIDS awareness in our community. The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) has made funding recommendations to cut HIV Counseling & Testing prevention programs and activities in St. Joseph County for 2010. St. Joseph County (Region 2) presently ranks 4th in the state for HIV/AIDS rates, but ranks 7th in the level of funding recommendations and have been denied funding to provide HIV Counseling & Testing.

The guidelines for allocating HIV Prevention dollars mandate that the resources must follow the disease burden in the state.

St. Joseph deserves to be funded at a rate comparable to those who share the same disease burden. HIV Prevention funding must be increased to provide comprehensive prevention services in St. Joseph County!
The largest HIV/AIDS service community based organization in St. Joseph County and the St. Joseph County Health Department has provided HIV Counseling & Testing services since 1993. AIDS Ministries/AIDS Assist alone has identified 15 new HIV positive individuals between January and October 2009. St. Joseph County is an ideal model of community collaborations. HIV/AIDS service organizations in St. Joseph county work in partnership with local health centers, drug treatment centers, universities, homeless centers, and the county jail to provide HIV Counseling & Testing. Without these vital prevention services the community of St. Joseph will no longer be able to offer early detection and we will return to the days of hospital emergency rooms identifying new HIV infections. As individuals go undiagnosed and untreated for HIV the result will be an unfair burden on already limited local resources.

The Indiana HIV Community Planning Group (CPG) will meet on Monday, December 14, 2009 to review and approve the 2010 HIV Prevention Plan which includes funding recommendations from the Indiana State Department of Health. Upon approval the plan will be submitted to the Centers for Disease Control. We must contact the Indiana State Department of Health prior to this meeting!

WE NEED YOUR HELP! PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. We must have HIV Counseling & Testing and Outreach funding restored to St. Joseph County! Please contact:

Judith A. Monroe, Indiana State Health Commissioner

1-317-233-1325 (ISDH switchboard)

Jmonroe@isdh.in.gov

Larry Harris, ISDH Interim Division Director Division of HIV

1-317-233-7464

Lharris@isdh.in.gov

Veronica McCants, CDC HIV Prevention Project Officer

1-404-639-5194

vrm0@cdc.gov

Indiana State Representative Ryan Dvorak

1-317-232-9600 or 1-800-382-9842 toll-free
h8@in.gov and lshipps@iga.in.gov

Indiana House Speaker B. Pat Bauer

1-317-232-9600 or 1-800-382-9842 toll-free

h6@in.gov

Congressman Joe Donnelly

574-288-2825 or 1-202-225-3915

Please demand that HIV Counseling & Testing and Outreach funding be restored to St. Joseph County!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Latorya Greene at 574-234-2870 or Lragnew@yahoo.com.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to support the community of St. Joseph County!



Sincerely,

Latorya R. Greene
Director of Prevention
AIDS Ministries/AIDS Assist

World AIDS Day 2009

Today is World AIDS Day. The world wide theme of World AIDS Day is: “I am living my rights” Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise. This is a call to raise your voice today. I have decided to use mine to talk a little bit about this disease.

In 1981, our brothers and sisters began to hear about the “Gay Cancer” or “GRID” (Gay Related Immune Deficiency”. A panic set in, Public Health scrambled to contain the outbreak. They whispered about this disease in hallways and discussed actions behind closed doors. It would take five years before President Reagan spoke the word “AIDS” in public.

In 1983, we were made promises that we would have a vaccine, or even a cure. Instead we held candlelight memorials and sewed quilt panels to honor those we have lost. The war had begun.

In 1987, AZT was the first medication approved by the FDA for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, “America Responds to AIDS”, and activists began to “Act Up”. Hope and action became the new moniker of the movement. In 1989, World AIDS Day was established to bring focus on this Pandemic and in 1991 the Red Ribbon became the symbol of the movement.

Stigma and ignorance have fueled this disease far too long. The widespread believe that this was a “Gay Disease” and that those who were infected were “Dirty” swept the United States and even the World. People like Ryan White and Ricky Ray were treated like outcasts in their own schools, they were assaulted with words, and their homes vandalized and even set afire. Those are just two of the millions of people world wide who have experienced hate and violence.

However, the violence does not just come from the public; it comes from government and other institutions of service. We in the United States are fortunate enough to have laws to protect people living with HIV/AIDS from discrimination. This year President Barack Obama lifted the ban on people traveling and immigrating with HIV/AIDS. The fight is not over yet.

Injustice abounds world wide. Our brothers in Uganda live in fear that their sexual orientation and HIV status may lead them to imprisonment and even death. We have come so far to be pulled back.
I am both confused and saddened by such hate. I am grateful that I have a voice, and that I can use my voice to speak out against this injustice both foreign and domestic.

Join me today, use your voice. Stand up and make a promise to talk about HIV to anyone who will listen. Stand with me and honor our ancestors, celebrate our elders, and educate our youth.