In honor of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and in conjunction with their series of Black History Month events, Ferndale LGBT center Affirmations will host an African American LGBT Community Discussion and Resource Fair at 6:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 4.
"National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is an important time for the African-American lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allied community to have a raw discussion about why HIV/AIDS is so prevalent in our communities and what we are going to do about it," said Health and Human Services Coordinator London Bell.
HIV/AIDS activists and spoken word artists Felix and Paula Sirls will facilitate the discussion, focusing on the increasing number of black LGBTQA people infected and/or affected with HIV/AIDS and how to implement a plan of action
to bring these numbers down. In addition, Molina Healthcare will talk about
the stigma those with HIV/AIDS may be faced with while seeking health care and how it can negatively affect the quality of care a person may receive.
BioMed Specialty Pharmacy will conclude the discussion by drawing attention to barriers one might encounter when accessing HIV/AIDS medications and how overall patient compliance with medication could be impacted. BioMed will also discuss some of the HIV/AIDS medications that are currently available. BioMed is the very first and only specialty pharmacy in metro Detroit servicing patients living with chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS.
Local businesses and organizations such as AIDS Partnership Michigan, the Michigan AIDS Coalition, American Cancer Society and the American Civil Liberties Union will have resources and literature available about HIV/AIDS and other health issues affecting the black LGBTQA community.
For more information, please contact London Bell at 248-398-7105 or [email protected].
For a complete listing of the center's Black History Month events, visit http://www.goaffirmations.org.
