ADAP Stories: Jerry

Jerry shared his story during HIV/AIDS Advocacy Day. 

Hometown: Asheville

Occupation: Disabled veteran

Q: How did the North Carolina AIDS Drug Assistance Program affect your life?

A: I was diagnosed with HIV June of last year. After having many major surgeries, I was did not accept the diagnosis when they told me I had HIV. I refused to take any drugs because of denial.

At that point in time, things got so bad that I tried to commit suicide. I tried on January 7 of 2013. At that time, I accepted that I had HIV and went to my county health department, which introduced me to the Ryan White program, which would fund me with meds for my recovery.

I thought that I had a death sentence, but they told me I could get my level down to where it’s undetectable, which is a God-blessed thing. With them supplying my meds, I am able to have my levels down to undetectable.

That brings me to what I am doing today. I feel it was a God-sent thing for me to have HIV so that I can come down to advocate to for those in Western NC who are not able to come. I tell my legislators that funding does not need to be cut, it needs to be increased. I would like to tell my grandkids that I was part of bringing HIV to an end.

Now, I get my meds through the federal government, because I am a veteran. Because I am a veteran, I am honored that my healthcare is taken care of, but there are people out there that have low income that are not veterans. I’ve been given the outlet to help people with this soon-to-be-ending disease. 

Q: You came all the way from Asheville today. Did you come to the conference today with a group?

I came with WNCAP. They are doing such a great job in the western North Carolina area. More funding is needed to reach out to the street levels where AIDS is running rampant and to touch people that are not coming to be tested, who don’t know that they have HIV.

I am also part of Varick Chapel AME Zion Church. We are using our church ministry to reach out to people in the community to be tested for HIV/AIDS. Dec. the 7^th, 2012 was our first health fair, and seven people were tested for HIV. This year, we’re looking to test 20. That’s the community level. Members know people. The high risk people. The church knows the people in the community. 

This is one of a series of interviews highlighting the impact that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program has on the lives of people in North Carolina. If you would like to share your story, contact Claire at claire@ncaan.org. 

To take action to save the AIDS Drug Assistance Program from proposed budget cuts, send an email to your legislators now.

ADAP Stories: Brian

Hometown: Charlotte

Occupation: Public Health Strategist

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Q: How has the North Carolina AIDS Drug Assistance Program affected you?

A: ADAP has allowed me to share experiences with people that are not only infected, but also affected by HIV/AIDS in North Carolina. It’s been a gateway for me to be an advocate and trailblazer toward an AIDS free-generation. ADAP saves lives, and it changes lives. The landscape of people living with HIV and their life experience is completely different because of ADAP. 

Interview by Blaire Benson

This is one of a series of interviews highlighting the impact that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program has on the lives of people in North Carolina. If you would like to share your story, contact Claire at claire@ncaan.org. 

To take action to save the AIDS Drug Assistance Program from proposed budget cuts, send an email to your legislators now.

ADAP Stories: Michelle

Hometown: Asheville

Occupation: Disabled. Volunteers as CNA advocate for the Western North Carolina AIDS Project

Q: How has the North Carolina AIDS Drug Assistance Program affected your life?

A: ADAP has drastically changed my life. If it had not been for ADAP and my case management with Western North Carolina AIDS Project I would not be a success story today.

When I was diagnosed, I was moving down a very unhealthy path. I could not afford my HIV medication; I had very little income; and I was living a very unhealthy lifestyle centered on alcohol and drugs. ADAP has healed me. I was able to get medication not only for treating HIV, but for my other illnesses (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, etc.) as well. 

As my health began to improve I became more hopeful about my life. I lost 85 pounds and have kept it off for over three years now. I no longer have to take any medication other than my HIV medication. I’m now sober and healthy. Being healthy has allowed me to create a much more stable life for myself.  I’ve had the same address for the last seven years. That is a huge success for me. 

When you don’t have your basic needs taken care of you don’t care about the medication, so creating an overall healthy and stable lifestyle is a very important part of ensuring that people take their medication. ADAP has helped me rise above the stigma of being HIV positive. I was at death’s door—literally. Now I am healed—in so many ways. My new healthy lifestyle is sustainable because I know I will be able to continue my medication through ADAP. 

ADAP has also changed the lives of people I love. My sister passed away from AIDS. When she was diagnosed the HIV virus in her body had already advanced to AIDS. Before she passed, she had four children—none of which contracted HIV from her because ADAP provided medicine to my sister while she was pregnant. ADAP is the reason my nieces and nephews are negative. They give me hope, and ADAP gives me hope.  

Interview by Blaire Benson

This is one of a series of interviews highlighting the impact that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program has on the lives of people in North Carolina. If you would like to share your story, contact Claire at claire@ncaan.org. 

To take action to save the AIDS Drug Assistance Program from proposed budget cuts, send an email to your legislators now.

ADAP Stories: Chrishelle

Chrishelle and her husband Michael get ready to
deliver petition postcards in support of the AIDS Drug
Assistance Program to Senator Floyd McKissick.

Hometown: Durham

Occupation: Teacher

Q: How has the North Carolina AIDS Drug Assistance Program affected your life?

A: I am an ADAP client. It is very important to me that ADAP gets funding—it means I’m able to take my medication and don’t have to be overwhelmed with trying to figure out how to afford it.

I have many friends that are also in the ADAP program, and without that funding we wouldn’t have access to any of our medicine and without that medicine we would get very sick and possibly even die. This program enables us to live much longer than we ever could without our medication. My doctor says that I’m in the best health I’ve been in all my life. I am now married, and my husband and I are looking to have children. None of this would be possible without ADAP.

Interview by Blaire Benson

This ispart of a series of interviews highlighting the impact that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program has on the lives of people in North Carolina. If you would like to share your story, contact Claire at claire@ncaan.org. 

To take action to save the AIDS Drug Assistance Program from proposed budget cuts, send an email to your legislators now. 

ADAP Stories: Josh

Hometown: Raleigh

Profession: Non-Profit Development Associate

Q: What has North Carolina's AIDS Drug Assistance Program meant to you?

A: ADAP has meant that I’m able to work and that I was able to finish school and stay healthy enough to maintain a normal and productive life. I was diagnosed with HIV in 2006; I was a low-income student about to start graduate school and did not have health insurance. At the time I did not need medication, but they went ahead and enrolled me in ADAP. I was on it for about three years and then in 2009, while in my last year of graduate school and still without health insurance, the time came for me to begin taking medication. 

Because I was on ADAP, I was able to get my medication without any delay or complications. A month after I began medication my viral load was declared undetectable for the first time. Being able to go on medication through ADAP enabled me to take my comprehensive exams and complete all my final projects, graduating on time. 

ADAP also allowed me to change medication due to an allergic reaction I had. If I had been on a pharmaceutical patient assistance program there could have been a delay in changing my medication because I would have had to apply for another program through a different pharmaceutical company and hope that they approved me to receive medications. Being on ADAP allowed me to go on treatment when I needed to and to change treatment, as I needed to. 

When I came back to North Carolina for work after graduating and moving to another state, there was a waiting list for ADAP. That was of great concern for me because the job I had accepted didn’t cover health insurance. It was a very scary time for me because while on the ADAP waiting list I was reliant on a clinic supply for my medication. Thankfully I was a patient at a large clinic and was able to receive medication for the month or two that I was on the waiting list. 

ADAP was once again a lifesaver. It allowed me to be a productive citizen—to work and pay taxes and put a roof over my head and food in my mouth. I don’t want to lose ADAP. Time and again it’s been there to help pay for my medicine when I couldn’t have otherwise. Here I am speaking to you today, and I’m undetectable, and I’m able to be a healthy and productive member of society. 

ADAP enables people to move out of poverty and into the working class; it enables them to continue with life. ADAP is an economic builder—it helps the economy because it propels the HIV positive segment of our population out of lower socioeconomic levels; it gives them the ability to reach their potential and to care for themselves and their families. 

Interview by Blaire Benson

This is the first of a series of interviews highlighting the impact that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program has on the lives of people in North Carolina. If you would like to share your story, contact Claire at claire@ncaan.org. 

To take action to save the AIDS Drug Assistance Program from proposed budget cuts, send an email to your legislators now.

HIV/AIDS Advocates to Convene in Raleigh

PRESS RELEASE                                               CONTACT: Claire Hermann

April 4, 2013                                                                  (919) 533-9677, claire@ncaan.org

HIV/AIDS advocates from across North Carolina will gather in Raleigh on Tuesday, April 9, for a day of rapid-fire discussions and workshops with leaders in the HIV/AIDS advocacy community.

“I come to be encouraged, educated and inspired, and to lend my voice to the discussion,” said Savalas Squire, a minister from Winston-Salem who is living with HIV.

“Too many in our state are struggling to make ends meet, find quality healthcare, and find love and acceptance after being diagnosed as being HIV-positive,” said Squire.

The conference builds advocacy capacity among the community of people fighting for the rights of the 35,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in North Carolina and those at risk.

Many advocates will be meeting with legislators as well.

“Access to healthcare is the key to halting the HIV epidemic in North Carolina,” said Lisa Hazirjian, executive director of the North Carolina AIDS Action Network.

“As our elected officials make decisions that will have a profound impact on public health, it’s important that they hear from the people who are most affected,” Hazirjian said.

A key issue for advocates will be a looming $8 million cut to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides medication to thousands of low-income clients. Governor McCrory’s state budget proposal included the sharp reduction in funding.

Advocates say those cuts could bring back long waiting lists and severely restricted lists of covered medications. They have collected more than 3,500 postcards in support of the program, roughly one signature for every 10 people living with HIV in North Carolina.

Also on the policy agenda will be defending access to sexual health information and treatment for youth and decriminalizing syringes to prevent needle-stick transmission of HIV.

“Getting stuck by a needle was one of the scariest moments of my career,” said conference attendee Jen Earls, a former police officer. 

“I believe a combination of harm reduction programs and syringe decriminalization will make a vast difference by reducing needle-sticks to law enforcement officers and reducing HIV and hepatitis in the community," Earls said.

It will be a busy day in Raleigh. NC Women United and the Historic Thousands on Jones Street People’s Assembly Coalition will hold their advocacy days on Tuesday as well.    

“We will be standing in solidarity with the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, Historic Thousands on Jones Street People's Assembly Coalition, and NC Women United in support of policies that value the voices and well-being of all North Carolinians,” said Hazirjian.

The North Carolina AIDS Action Network and the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition will host the conference.

Community Partners include the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina, Black AIDS Institute, Crape Myrtle Festival, Duke AIDS Legal Project, Equality NC, HIV-Hope Project, NC Fair Share, Rainbow Community Cares, Regional AIDS Interfaith Network, Southern Harm Reduction and Drug Policy Network, and Western North Carolina AIDS Project.

The conference is sponsored by AIDS United, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Bristol Myers Squibb, and PhRMA. For more information, visit www.ncaan.org.

Governor's budget would make dangerous cuts to state AIDS program

PRESS STATEMENT                                          CONTACT: Claire Hermann

March 20, 2013                                                                          (919) 533-9677, claire@ncaan.org

GOVERNOR’S BUDGET WOULD MAKE DANGEROUS CUTS TO AIDS PROGRAM

Governor McCrory’s budget proposal would cut $8 million from the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program. The program provides medications to qualified North Carolinians living with HIV who cannot otherwise afford them.

"Governor McCrory’s choice to propose $8 million in cuts to this critical public health program is shortsighted and dangerous," said Lisa Hazirjian, executive director of the North Carolina AIDS Action Network.

“Ensuring that everyone living with HIV in North Carolina has access to the medications they need saves lives and lowers the rates of new infections.”

"The Governor should not abdicate his responsibility for the health of the people of this state," Hazirjian said.

Treatment allows people living with HIV to live relatively healthy lives. A 2011 UNC study showed that treatment can lower transmission rates by up to 96 percent.

About 35,000 North Carolinians are living with HIV. Almost 6,500 receive medications through the state’s HIV medication programs.

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