The AIDS Issues Update
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Dr. Nomil reflects on her time in Haiti
Yesterday was Dr. Nomil’s last day at the HIV clinic. Early this morning, as Edner drives her to the border in a hand off to Jobanny, she writes a few parting reflections:
This is the end of my journey in Haiti. I spent nearly 2 weeks delivering medical care. I can’t say everything went as it was supposed to, but given the circumstances, our team worked together and tried to make the best of the situation.
I have a lot of mixed emotions leaving Port-au-Prince. There is still so much to do, not only medically but in every way we can imagine. I hope in time, each and every one affected by this disaster in Haiti will free of this misery…That at least their basic needs are being met.
I have seen some small improvement since my first week in here. At least, just outside the family health center I’ve…
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Charles King Explains Rick Warren Connection
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to cut off my ponytail. We were looking for ideas to raise money for the Keith Cylar Fund, with all the money going to support AIDS activists rebuilding their infrastructure in Haiti. I haven’t even trimmed my hair in over twenty years. Auctioning off the right to cut it seems like a sufficiently dramatic gesture.
The Shear Madness announcement went out a few days ago. Yesterday, we got our first bid: $1,000 dollars from Rick Warren, the Pastor of Saddleback, a mega-church in the Los Angeles area. Saddleback was one of the first large evangelical churches to take on the AIDS epidemic in Africa in a serious way.
Warren, his wife, Kay, and I have sparred on many occasions, over faith-based AIDS programs neglect of gay and bisexual men, over the emphasis on “A” in ABC HIV prevention education, over the effective approaches…
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PACHA is Coming Up Rosie?
When the new President’s AIDS Advisory Council members were sworn in this week, the group included many well-informed and respected advocates, researchers, doctors and people living with AIDS, a welcome departure from less diverse panel from the Bush years. It also included actor Rosie Perez, who the PACHA membership list cites as “actor, choreographer and director.”
While no one questions Perez’s commitment to the cause, there was a collective, skeptical “Hmmmm?” among many AIDS advocates. Will Perez be choreographing the official PACHA dance?
“What expertise is she bringing to the table? Does PACHA need celebrity status to be effective in its work?” said Charles Long, who said he was speaking as a person living with HIV and not as a representative of his organization, New York City AIDS Housing Network.
But Oscar Lopez, a spokesperson for the Latino Commission on AIDS, which has long worked with Perez, defended the…
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Ryan White Legal Limbo
Health Resources and Services Administration is looking to clarify the immensely complicated Ryan White restrictions that deprive key legals services people living with AIDS.
“Ryan White funds may be used to pay for certain legal services. HRSA has received some requests for clarification of which legal services may be paid for with Ryan White funds. In light of the reauthorization of the Ryan White program, HRSA is taking a look at all of our policies – including the policy regarding “allowable services” (which includes legal services). We are currently reviewing the “allowable services” document, and plan to re-issue it in the very near future,” said HRSA spokesperson David Bowman.
The Ryan White CARE Act provisions on legal services are quite vague. The law states, “Legal services are the provision of services to individuals with respect to powers of attorney, donot- resuscitate orders and interventions necessary to ensure access to eligible…
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The Plight of Homeless Pregnant Women in Haiti
“By now I can say I really wish that I would not hear that any of the patients are sleeping in the streets, especially the pregnant ones,” —Dr. Marie Nomil
Dr. Nomil, an internal medicine doctor who is working at the clinics, has been working with pregnant women in Haiti and recounted the helpless situation they face. “I would have never believed such stories had I not come here to witness it myself. Most that I have met have had little prenatal care, never had a sonogram, and some are on medications that are contraindicated during pregnancy.”
“Three days ago I met a young lady in her mid 20s who came to the clinic with a newborn just four days old,” she continued. “She told me she delivered outside the hospital on the ground because they did not have any room for her.”
Dr. Nomil transported four patients to a field…
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Charles King: “Some Haitians Have Given Up”
King passes on the notes of frontline doctor Dr. Marie Nomil. Nomil says that delays have convinced some Haitians that international aid will never really arrive. She also recounts an emblematic story of a woman whose leg is cast without being set or X-rayed. AIDS meds are in short supply, and Edner’s frustration is mounting quickly.
I miss my latest blog deadline because I have no material, except a lyrical rant Edner has sent and my own anxieties and frustrations. (It seems in asking Edner to write about his experiences I awakened not the journalist, but the angry poet.) I’m also concerned because I haven’t seen anything but a few cryptic messages from on the ground in over 20 hours. I try calling every hour or so, but can’t get a connection.
When I get a phone call from Edner on my cell phone, I quickly drop the conference call I…
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Why Does Rick Warren Want to Pay $1,000 to Cut Off Charles King’s Ponytail?
In an effort to raise money to rebuild three clinics in Haiti, Housing Works President and CEO Charles King will auction off his trademark ponytail at a charity auction event called Shear Madness. One week into the auction, who’s the current highest bidder? None other than evangelical megachurch leader Rick Warren.
“For Charles to part with his personal signature is a serious sacrifice by a serious man for a serious cause,” Warren said. “When I heard he planned to do this I immediately kicked off the bidding at $1,000. The cause is worth a hundred times more than that. I pray that I’ll lose this bid by a wide margin, because Kay [Warren] and I will send our $1,000 of support regardless,” Warren said, adding, “What will you do?”
King is an ordained Baptist minister. Warren and King got to know each other when King publicly confronted Warren at…
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Action Alert: Tell Congress to Pass Healthcare Reform Now!
Tell Congress to finish the job on health reform! This week Congress will be deciding whether to move forward with comprehensive health reform. We must send them a loud message from the HIV community that letting comprehensive health reform die is not an option! The HIV/AIDS Health Care Access Working Group has made it easy for you to weigh in to help make comprehensive reform a reality:
Sign a letter by Wednesday, February 3 that will be sent to the President and members of Congress
The HIV Health Care Access Working Group is circulating this letter far and wide to demonstrate strong support from the HIV community for doing what it takes to get the job done to pass comprehensive health reform. Anything less will leave health care out of reach for too many people with HIV and others with chronic conditions or individuals that live on low incomes.…
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Published every two weeks, the AIDS Issues Update is your inside source for in-depth activism news. Includes the best of the AIDS Issues Update blog.
Contact
The AIDS Issues Update is written by Diana Scholl. Send thoughts and story tips to Diana at d.scholl@housingworks.org.
