World AIDS Day 2010 Plans in Fairbanks

World AIDS Day is in less than two months on December 1st, 2010.  Currently, prevention is working with the UAF practicum students on organizing this event.  They are working on having an awareness booth at the UAF Wood Center and a candlelight vigil that will start at the Interior AIDS Association at 710 3rd Avenue.  Other ideas include a potluck dinner and a short skit by the theater group Breadcrumbs, who recently did a play focused on youth homelessness that was based on Alice and Wonderland.  This year we plan to have more people in the candlelight walk.

AIDS.Gov Microgrant

The Interior AIDS Association has finished up a project that brought us into the world of social media. While we still have a long way to go, at least we have taken that all-important first step. Funding for this project was made possible primarily by AIDS.Gov, a program of U.S. HHS, Office of HIV/AIDS Policy. Of course, the views expressed, while we believe they are brilliant, do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the HHS or AIDS.gov; nor does the mention of trade names, commmercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Our presence on Facebook and Twitter and this Blog gives us the opportunity to work toward our mission: to prevent HIV transmission and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV. With these tools we plan to persuade people whose behavior puts them at risk for HIV to get tested, and perhaps to take small steps to reduce the harm in their lives. With these tools, we plan to ensure that people living with HIV in the Fairbanks area are aware that support is available for them at IAA.

We also consider this an opportunity to inform the community about the continuing HIV epidemic here in Alaska, in the U.S. and the world. Knowledge, compassion, and personal responsibility are key tools in an effective response to this disease. The Interior AIDS Association encourages all to employ these tools to stop the spread of HIV as well as the stigma that still haunts many who live with the disease.

IAA Raffle and Moose Scat Scoot

The IAA Raffle and the Moose Scat Scoot(in Denali National Park) were both a great success.  To see more about each event, you can go to our Facebook page which you can find by searching Interior AIDS Association.  There were a lot of prizes, music, food, and many people at the raffle on Saturday.  The raffle and Scoot in Denali are always a good time and it raises a lot of money for our little non-profit.  Support and volunteers are always appreciated.

National HIV Testing Day

TAKE CONTROL, TAKE THE TEST

Since June 27, 1995, the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA), in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Prevention Information Network (NPIN), and other national and local entities across the country, has organized National HIV Testing Day. This unique initiative sends the message to those at risk from those already living with HIV that there are powerful reasons for learning one's HIV status.

National HIV Testing Day was developed in response to the growing number of HIV infections in communities of color and other heavily impacted commuities. Today, CDC estimates approximately 250,000 Americans are linving with HIV BUT DO NOT KNOW their HIV status.

Voluntary HIV testing is a critical first step in taking control and responsiblity over one's health. National HIV testing Day promotes the message "Take the Test, Take Control" to a demographically diverse audience and numerous communties nationwide. Finding out if you have HIV is the first step to improving your health and the health of your partners, family and community.

National HIV Testing Recommendations:

• Routine HIV screening for
• All patients aged 13-64
• Patients seeking treatment for STDs
• Patients initiating TB treatment
• Repeat HIV screening for
• Persons at high risk (IV drug users and their sex partners, Persons exchanging sex for money, Sex partners of HIV+ persons, Persons who had more than one sex partner since their last HIV test)
• Persons starting a new sexual relationship
• Others based on clinical judgment

Making Proud Choices! Week 3

Today, Prevention went out to our local substance abuse rehabilitation for youth and taught week 3 of our Making Proud Choices! curriculum.  Module 3 is called Attitudes and beliefs about HIV/AIDS and condom use.  This module contains a movie about a group of close friends , some of who do not believe that HIV can affect them.  When they discover that someone close to them has the HIV virus, their attitudes and beliefs about who can and cannot contract HIV change drastically.  Although the movie "HIV Not Us" is dated from the early nineties, it is a very interesting and captivating video for the teenage groups.  Next week, Prevention will be teaching strategies for preventing HIV infection by emphasizing exercises to Stop, Think, and Act. 

It is definately summer!

Fairbanks is finally seeing some nice weather after a few rainy days!  We have had downpours, hail, and rain, rain, rain! Today, prevention planted some veggies in the front of the building and it looks a lot better now.  Hopefully they will grow and we can make a salad at the end of the season.  We are enjoying the sun while we can, solstice happens in little over a week and we will begin losing daylight again.  It is a good time to do outreach in the parks and in the street.

Making Proud Choices! Week 2

Prevention will be teaching week two of the Making Proud Choices! curriculum at a substance abuse treatment facility for youth.  This chapter is called The Consequences of Sex: HIV Infection.  This module dispels myths and teaches facts about HIV transmission.  This chapter involves movie clips, games, and a lot of information!