The Women's Empowerment Team of the East takes Raleigh by storm

Guest post by Esther Ross

A phenomenal event took place Wednesday, April 29, 2015 in Raleigh NC for North Carolina HIV Advocacy Day.

The Women's Empowerment Team of the East - aka Girls on Fire, ready for their first meeting with legislators.

The WE Team of the EAST (Women Empowered aka Girls on Fire) advocated on issues that directly impact people living with HIV in North Carolina. They did an outstanding job communicating the importance in achieving viral load suppression, increasing positive health outcomes to improve quality of life is for the state of North Carolina.

The WE Team of the EAST met with two senators who serve our Region 10 area; Senator Don Davis and Senator Louis Pate. We did so well that Senator Don Davis gave up his seat for Miss Juliette Sharpless and agreed to attend our Life Skill Support Group at ECU Physicians in Greenville September 2015 as a pledge of his continued support and commitment of HIV programs in our state.

Miss Juliette Sharpless at Senator Davis's desk for the discussion

Smiles all around: The WE Team of the East after talking with Senator Davis

 In regards to Senator Louis Pate, WE Team of the East did and an excellent job in expounding on the cost effectiveness in promoting programs that increase access to HIV medications to achieve and maintain viral load suppression versus utilizing the emergency room to treat opportunistic infections that occurs as viral load increases.

One of the arguments posed was “Imagine the cost of 1400 clients utilizing the emergency room to treat infections opposed to 1400 clients in which 82% are viral load suppressed in care at ECU Physicians in Greenville, NC." It is important that advocacy efforts continue at all levels in North Carolina to ensure our elected officials recognized the importance of these programs that contribute to the management of HIV in our communities to reducing the spread of HIV and linking those diagnosed with HIV are linked to care.
The recommendations on the agenda were:

1.  ADAP: To fully fund the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and oppose recurring funding cuts to accommodate for future changes in federal appropriations or voluntary corporate rebates especially when Medicaid has not been expanded for this state. 
2.  Youth Access to Healthcare Services: Protect the ability of young people to access mental and sexual healthcare, including HIV prevention, testing and treatment.
3. Harm Reduction: Support House Bill 712, which will authorize the State Bureau of Investigations in collaboration with North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, to establish pilot programs to collect and properly dispose of used syringes in two NC counties; and amend the existing Needle-stick Prevention law (HB 850) passed in 2013 so that a person who declares a syringe to a law enforcement officer prior to being searched will not be charged for possession of the syringe or for trace residue inside the syringe.

Felicia Brock talks to Senator Don Davis about HIV policy in Eastern NC

Thank you WE Team of the East for being ‘Women on Fire’ in HIV advocacy: Felicia Osborne; Juliette Sharpless; Mary (Cathy) Taft; and others.

Always ‘On Fire’ - Esther Ross

Esther Ross is the Region 10 Network Coordinator, a Social Work Practitioner and Medical Care Coordinator in the Department of Internal Medicine at the East Carolina University-Brody School of Medicine, and an advocate for those living with HIV in Greenville, NC. 

Truth, power, and the dog in your own backyard: Reflections on North Carolina HIV Advocacy Day

Guest post by Kevin Varner

There was a sense of being "okay" that day in Raleigh.

Underneath what the other advocates and I were doing, there permeated this notion that we were advocating on behalf of those who, for a myriad of reasons, were unable to travel and speak for themselves. Of course that was there. It's "advocacy's" definition.

It was also fantastic and a little intoxicating to speak with representatives from my district who seemed to "get it"--the importance of access to medical care, medicaid, and other basic services for those living with and affected by HIV. The importance of having more powerful allies, regardless of party affiliation, who took time out of the busy day to spend just ten minutes hearing us, and understanding the importance of our place as North Carolinians. It was great. It puffed me up, and my ego was going, "YEAH! This is GREAT! You spoke the TRUTH!"

Kevin in the Legislative Building in Raleigh

Now for the other piece--the piece where the ego meets the awareness--or, the place where the ego meets an obstacle. Not to be a Debbie Downer at all, but just aware...I thought, "That was easy. That was a little too easy." I was preaching to the choir.

In my district, I was lucky to have buy in and face time before I even opened my mouth. I mentioned the agency, Triad Health Project, where I work, and while I was blessed and grateful that the representatives with whom I spoke knew of us and the valuable work we do, and agreed with what we were pitching, I thought--"I wonder how this would go down if I had to fight harder? How would I deal with closed ears, polite nods, and rejection?"

What about those people in our state government who don't feel they have a dog in the fight for HIV funding, stigma reduction, HIV decriminalization, Harm Reduction Bills, and the advocacy the North Carolina AIDS Action Network and the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition do? I want to say to those state legislators the following:

Okay, sure. You may not think you have a dog in this fight. You may think "No way--not my issue, and definitely NOT in my backyard."

But, you DO have a dog, and I bet that dog can fight. And you DO have a backyard, and I bet it's just a matter of time before HIV and Harm Reduction issues show up in it. So, rather than becoming reactionary, and making a party line decision based on what your party is doing, or making a decision based on fear, on stigma, on belief, even...why not dig a little deeper for facts, statistics, and have conversations with those of us in the state who are living with HIV, with addiction, and with those who are working so hard to insure access to services that provide medicine, dignity, support, and empowerment to those with HIV and addictions...don't you think that by doing so, you'd strengthen your own "dog" and also make your own backyard a safer, better place to be?

That's what I didn't get to say at North Carolina HIV Advocacy Day. And that's what I think ought to be said, and heard in our state.

Kevin Varner is a North Carolina AIDS Action Network Speaking Positively Advocate and Director of Prevention Services at Triad Health Project in Greensboro, N.C. He blogs at LifeWithAPlusSign.wordpress.com.