Here in DC, 1 in 20 residents lives with HIV/AIDS, the highest rate in the country. For nearly 15 years, PreventionWorks has served thousands of injection drug users who battle not just the chronic diseases of addiction, HIV and hepatitis, but hunger, homelessness, mental health challenges, sexual abuse, violence and the stigma and isolation that come with being an addict.  Recovery from addiction can be a life-long road, particularly in a city where drug treatment resources are grossly inadequate.  PreventionWorks helps people to take the best possible care of themselves while they are on that journey by providing harm reduction and prevention materials, health education and screenings, food, support groups, case management, and linkages to medical care, drug treatment and other services.

While our organization has reasonably strong grant funding compared to similar organizations across the country, we struggle at times filling the gaps with unrestricted funds that would help our operation run more smoothly.  For example, recently the generator on the mobile unit broke down, undermining our ability to provide our services.  The mobile unit is the single most critical resource we have, as it facilitates our street-based services and outreach.  Replacing the generator alone will cost $3,500 in precious general operating funds that we currently don’t have.

To help us continue our full services into next year and beyond, we are launching a campaign to raise $10,000 in individual contributions by Thanksgiving.  Can you help?  Whether you can donate $25 or $250, it would be a huge contribution to fighting disease, improving health, and re-instilling dignity for some of the most marginalized people in society.  If you are thinking about a Christmas gift for me, this would be perfect.  Or maybe there is someone else on your Christmas list who would like to receive a gift to PreventionWorks made in their honor.

Please consider helping us reach our goal of raising $10,000 by Thanksgiving.  Contributions to PreventionWorks can be made through D.C.’s Catalogue for Philanthropy.  Or, if you wish, you can send a personal check made payable to PreventionWorks to me, and I’ll deliver it personally.  Thank you in advance for your critical support.

We were all devastated to learn that Dr. Rosenfield had been struck by ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) 3 years ago.  He had a long and full career in which he made enormous contributions to the fields of public health and reproductive health.  But it’s always tragic to learn that a great leader is suffering and ultimately that he is mortal.  In June of 2006 I sent an email to friends linking to this article, which had made me cry.  Dr. Rosenfield remained strong and dignified to the end.  He hosted a reception at last year’s APHA conference (American Public Health Association) and though he was immobile in a wheelchair he was engaged with everyone there and seemed pleased to see so many students from my class at the reception.

I will miss knowing that Dr. Rosenfield is out there fighting the good fight with the rest of us.  But I feel very honored to have been trained to follow his lead and to work with others to pick up where he left off.

See tributes from other PopFam members here:  Mandi, Suzanne

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Having the city money is truly great, but we still need private donations. It might seem counterintuitive that despite the huge influx of DC funds, the board is still in fundraising mode. But this is very definitely the case. We need private donations for general operating money to cover all of those little (and sometimes big) expenses that arise and aren’t covered by the city grants.

PreventionWorks’ fiscal year ends on September 30th. I’m putting this out here as an appeal to anyone looking for a charity to support. If you make a donation to PreventionWorks, either online or with a check, I will match your donation dollar for dollar. Please just let me know how much you’ve contributed if you are interested in this challenge. I’ll post the total amount raised after September 30th.

Don’t delay — we’ve got less than 2 weeks! And thanks in advance!

From the Washington paper Metro Weekly:  Local resident Kristen Degan was honored with a ”Research Award” from the Caron Drug & Alcohol Treatment Center, at the organization’s Fourth Annual Washington Metropolitan Area Community Service Awards Breakfast on Friday, June 27. Degan was praised for her work with the D.C. Crystal Meth Working Group (DCCMWG) and for a survey the group conducted on methamphetamine use in Washington. http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/?ak=3627

What about the ethical issues of pharmacists denying treatments and supplies prescribed or recommended by health care professionals?

How about the fact that these are time-sensitive items that require use at a specific moment — a moment that could be missed if a person has to go from pharmacy to pharmacy to refill an expired prescription, prevent an unwanted pregnancy, or protect oneself from STIs, pregnancy, and HIV?

And how can they call themselves “pro-life” when their failure to stock condoms might lead to HIV transmission in a serodiscordant couple that would otherwise have been protected?

I find this maddening because it’s just one more way that women of reproductive age will suffer the repercussions of inflated political rhetoric and ideology instead of having the freedom to make their own decisions. A pharmacy is the place we all go when we want to be healthy and/or stay healthy. We need to have all of the appropriate tools available to us when we visit a pharmacy.

Mr. Schalk (at Vassar no one uses “Dr.”) is a patient, loving man who always spoke with the highest regard of his wife.  She was also a Vassar graduate, and I had the pleasure of meeting her when I was working at reunion right after I graduated.  I was looking forward to always attending reunions at the same time as my favorite history professor’s wife.  I remember that she had a bright smile, a very warm personality and interesting stories from her various high-level jobs.

I just learned today that Mr. Schalk’s wonderful wife is battling Alzheimer’s disease and, at 71 years old, he is her primary caretaker.  The two of them made an outstanding and heartbreaking video that has just been posted on You Tube.  I would encourage you to watch the video and then to make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association to further research into this dreadful disease.  I live in great fear of someday feeling my grip on my faculties slip away as names and faces no longer match up and recent memories disappear.  I am deeply saddened that the Schalks are living this fear right now.

Here are some great Washington Post stories that provide more details:

From the front page of the Metro section on June 29th, including a photo of PreventionWorks staff:  House Repeals Needle Ban.
Sunday, July 1st:  Big Break is Possible for Small Crusade.
Op-Ed from July 2nd:  Needle-Exchange Victory.
And, the article those of us interested in international health as well as domestic health have been waiting for, a letter to the editor from July 6th:  Needle Exchange Needs Beyond DC.

If you have no time for the above links, here’s an excerpt from an email I got from AIDS Action summarizing what’s going on:

“The House debated the Souder amendment to ban DC from using local funding on syringe exchange late on Wednesday night.  During that debate, the first amendment offered by Souder was ruled out of order because it was considered a legislative action on an appropriations bill.  So he offered a second amendment that narrowed the local spending prohibition on syringe exchange to Whitman-Walker Clinic (an HIV/AIDS clinic here in Washington) and PreventionWorks! (a syringe exchange and HIV prevention organization).  Souder lost the voice vote and a roll call vote was delayed until yesterday evening. Finally, during yesterday’s voting, the amendment was defeated 216-208.  It was a very close vote – 30 Democrats voted in favor of the amendment, but 15 Republicans voted against it.  This is literally an historic vote – the first vote on syringe exchange since 2000 and I think that it is the first favorable vote ever.  Here is the recorded vote [...] We expect that with a quick resolution in the Senate, Washington will now be allowed to use its funds on syringe exchange.  However, there continues to be a ban on allowing any federal funding to be spent on syringe exchange.  Not only does this hamper HIV prevention efforts in many communities throughout the U.S. it also has caused U.S. officials to disapprove funding in other countries for syringe exchange.  This is particularly problematic in countries which receive U.S. funding and which have high rates of HIV due to intravenous drug use.  We will continue to work to end this ban in the future.”

Frank called me from the house at around 8:30 to tell me that the one of the houses across the street was on fire. The street was full of fire trucks (including the ladder truck from the fire station by our condo) and there was smoke coming out of the upstairs windows. He said all the fire fighters were running around and were sawing the bars off the windows so they could get inside. Fortunately no one was hurt and we saw the house today and it didn’t even look like there was much damage (from the outside anyhow). The upstairs windows are boarded up, but the family was outside and they said they were doing ok. No word on how the fire started.

So then Frank went to the house to let the ADT guy in to install our security system. They were just about to decide that we would hold off on installing ADT until the renovations were done when they noticed the basement door was wide open and there was broken glass on the floor. Yep, someone had broken into the house. Whoever it was got about $1,200 of our tools and painting supplies. But luckily Frank had brought his big toolbox home on Tuesday morning and our contractor hadn’t left any of his tools there. And even more luckily, I hadn’t left the camera there. (I have accidentally forgotten it twice, and was very stressed out about it both times.) We knew we were extremely vulnerable since the house is a known construction site and we are not there overnight, so we were half expecting something like this to happen. It’s funny, the back door didn’t even have a lock on it at that point, but the thieves broke in to the basement instead of walking in on the first floor. Now, of course, we have a deadbolt on the back door and the security system is all hooked up. Too bad ADT didn’t come last Friday when they were supposed to… The funny thing is that they stole the $80 weedwacker that we had just repackaged to bring back to the store — it didn’t work! But they didn’t steal the $20 replacement one that we bought (and use). Somehow just knowing that makes me feel a little bit better.

Then of course there was good news on the needle exchange front. This is just a first step in a long process, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

The Washington Post also ran an editorial in yesterday’s paper regarding needle exchange. Let’s hope all this positive momentum continues.

The final piece of news is related to the donations that keep pouring in to PreventionWorks. We got over $20,000 in response to the NY Times article mentioned below. People’s generosity and support for this cause have totally overwhelmed me. We got a check for $10,000, a check for $5,000, and a check for $1,000, in addition to over 30 smaller donations. And it keeps coming! This is really encouraging for the future of PreventionWorks as its leadership changes.

In a more mundane update, we’ve got photos on the website of our house progress.  I split them up into 3 different slide shows.

Progress between April 24 and 27 is here, along with photos of Amy and Zoe who came for a visit.
My parents’ visit and photos of the aftermath of our contractor’s first day are here.
Photos after the contractor’s second day of work are here.  He works EXTREMELY fast!

And, the photo we’ve all been waiting for…

The awnings are gone!!!  And so is the chain link fence.  I can’t wait until we’ve re-done the porch in its original style, with wood railings and big wooden columns.

It’s really hard to be leaving the field right as all this positive momentum is building.  If the ban is lifted, I’m sure I’ll find my way right back into the world of needle exchange.

In other news — the contractor has been working for 2 days and already the bathroom is completely gutted, the wall is down between the kitchen and dining room (the studs are there today, but will likely be gone soon), the fireplace has been moved to the living room, the basement walls have disappeared, and most of the pipes are gone.  My parents were here this weekend and they helped us get the awnings off the front of the house, strip lots of the trim paint, and remove the chain link fence from the front of the house.

We’ll post pictures ASAP.

I failed to mention that last week’s article appeared on the *front page* of the NY Times with a great photo of Ron Daniels. The article attracted a lot of attention and as of Friday we had gotten over $4,300 in donations as a response to the article. Over 30 supporters sent in donations from as far away as California and Maine, in amounts ranging from $25 to $1,000. It is really amazing to see this kind of support for a program so close to my heart.

In today’s NY Times, there was a great editorial. I’d just like to clear up one small error in the editorial — we don’t actually turn anyone away. Our problem is that resource constraints mean that we’re not able to serve everyone that could benefit from our services.

Let’s hope this publicity leads Congress to allow DC to spend its own funds on needle exchange so more people can be reached and HIV transmission can be reduced in DC.

“She was sitting on an airplane nursing her child in a next-to-last row window seat with her husband beside her (in other words, she was in a discreet location), when a flight attendant offered her a choice: Cover herself and her child with a blanket, or get off the plane.  She declined the blanket, and was escorted off the plane.

“MSNBC quotes her as saying, “It embarrassed me. That was my first reaction, which is a weird reaction for doing something so good for a child.” 

“SIGN THE PETITION TO DELTA AIRLINES AND CONGRESS:  Tell Delta Airlines to get a clue and be supportive of breastfeeding mothers.  And tell Congress it’s time to pass the Breastfeeding Promotion Act, which amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding mothers.  Clearly this law is needed now!

“*Click here to sign on to the petition (and then forward this link on to friends so they can sign too):  http://www.momsrising.org/breastfeeding-petition  “

A Case for Patience and Kindness is a story about the attempts of active drug users and former drug users to curb the spread of HIV among injection drug users in Washington D.C. The individuals in the movie are from very different backgrounds but nontheless agree that compassion and scientifically proven public health approaches are far more effective than jail time in dealing with the problems that surround opiate addiction. This is also a story about Harm Reduction; a public health policy that has been embraced by many countries around the world but has met with fierce oppostion here in the U.S. And finally it is story about the need for patience and kindness when facing the things that frighten us.

http://www.current.tv/watch/13632547

Under its new leadership, the Administration for HIV Policies and Programs (AHPP) at the DC Department of Health has launched a campaign encouraging all DC residents between the ages of 14 and 84 to get tested for HIV. To support this effort, they have made OraQuick Advance rapid HIV tests available to hospitals, doctor’s offices, clinics, and community-based organizations that deal with health issues. Dr. Marsha Martin, the new director of AHPP, appeared on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer on Wednesday night to discuss this initiative. You can see her interview here.

PreventionWorks has received funding from AHPP to conduct rapid HIV tests in ward 7 — an area of DC where testing rates have historically been low and many people do not know their HIV status. This is a first step in a larger plan to identify people who did not know they were positive and link them into support services and HIV treatment programs.