Heartfelt thanks go out to the Club 95 members of Ursuline Piazza who gave of their time and talent to create a panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Quilt panels will be displayed on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at the 5:30 closing reception at MetroHealth. We are also grateful to Jen McMillan-Smith and all the organizations that helped give us this opportunity to honor our deceased friends.

For information on the AIDS Memorial Quilt go to: www.aidsquilt.org

Volunteers from the Ursuline Piazza’s Club 95 will make a panel remembering twenty of our HIV-positive friends who have died since the start of our program in 2007.  This workshop is being made possible by a partnership of The MetroHealth System, Cleveland Institute of Art, Stitch Cleveland, Pins & Needles and The DBJ Foundation. 

The AIDS Memorial Quilt (64 panels) can be viewed on Tuesday, November 29th from 6 – 8 p.m. at Cleveland Institute of Art, Joseph McCullough Center, 11610 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44016 and again at the Closing Reception on Wednesday, December 7th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.  Featuring 64 panels of the Quilt plus all of the newly created panels from the workshops at MetroHealth Medical Center, Main Campus, Rammelkamp Atrium, 2500 MetroHealth Drive, Cleveland, OH 44109.

For more information about this project, please visit www.metrohealth.org.

For more information about The AIDS Memorial Quilt, please visit www.aidsquilt.org.

The Crown is now asking for a determination that Aziga is a “dangerous offender” and can therefore be imprisoned until he is found to be no longer dangerous. Aziga’s lawyers argue that he is no longer dangerous and should not be treated as a “sexual psychopath.”

Now it’s down to the judge, who will have to decide which side has made a more compelling argument. We aren’t close enough to the facts of the case to have an opinion, and we certainly don’t envy the judge, who is closer and has to make a decision that will affect Aziga’s life and potentially the lives of others. But we note two aspects of this case that are relevant to the discussion of HIV-specific criminal laws here in the United States.

First, Aziga was not charged, tried, and convicted under an HIV-specific law. Inflicting grievous bodily harm that leads to death, either intentionally or with such shocking lack of concern for the consequences that it might as well have been intentional, counts as murder in Canada – just as it does in the United States. There was no need for an HIV-specific law in Aziga’s case in Ontario, and there is no need for any here in the States.

Second, the Aziga case demonstrates one of the problems of criminal cases that involve sexual behavior. The defendant and the complaining witness may both be telling very sanitized versions of the truth, or even, sometimes, both lying through their teeth. And either the defendant or the complaining witness, or both, may have psychological issues that affect their testimony. Judges have to determine guilt or innocence on the basis of which witnesses they find credible, when in fact none of them may be.

Add the element of hysteria present in so many HIV-related prosecutions, and you have a situation in which some judges will convict where reasonable doubt exists in spades or imprison without term without a water-tight case that the convicted offender is permanently dangerous, simply to avoid later criticism for what the defendant may do years in the future.

That’s a violation of human rights. The climate of hysteria has to end, and the beginning of the end will be rolling back HIV-specific criminal laws which the Aziga case shows we don’t need.

The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) believes in self-determination. We are passionate about making life better and more meaningful for all people living with HIV/AIDS. While the epidemic impacts us directly, we also impact the epidemic by identifying ways to reduce its new infections, mitigate its stigma and alleviate its suffering.

Working together, HIV Positive people and our allies turn obstacles into strengths, barriers into opportunities and prejudice into respect.

Frank J. Oldham, Jr.
President and CEO

© National Association of People With AIDS, 2010.

J. Glen Smith Health Center
11100 St. Clair Avenue
(216) 249-4100

McCafferty Health Center
4242 Lorain Avenue
(216) 651-5005

AGAPE
8869 Cedar Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
216/791-0638

AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland
2728 Euclid Avenue, Suite 400
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
216/621-0766
http://www.aidstaskforce.org

Cleveland Treatment Center Project SAFE
6001 Woodland Avenue, Suite 2121
Cleveland, Ohio 44104
216/991-7233

Free Clinic of Greater Cleveland
12201 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
216/721-1667
http://www.thefreeclinic.org

Hours: Mon-Thurs 12:30PM – 7:00 PM; Fri. 10AM – 2PM

Lesbian/Gay Community Service Center
6600 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44101
216/651-5428
http://www.lgcsc.org

NEON

• 300 Hough Avenue
  Cleveland, Ohio 44103
  216/231-7700 x1010  (Se habla Espanol.)
• 15201 Euclid Avenue
  East Cleveland, Ohio 44112
  216/541-5600 (Se habla Espanol.)
• 13301 Miles Avenue
  Cleveland, Ohio 44105
  216/751-3100
• 12100 Superior Avenue
  Cleveland, Ohio 44106
  216/851-2600
• 15322 St Clair Avenue
  Cleveland, Ohio 44110
  216/851-1500

Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland

3500 Lorain Ave., Ste. 400
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
(216) 961-8804
Planned Parenthood – Bedford/Southeast
19550 Rockside Rd.
Cleveland, Ohio 44146
(440) 232-8381

Planned Parenthood – East Cleveland
1835 Forest Hills Blvd.
East Cleveland, Ohio 44112
(216) 851-1880

University Hospital John T. Carey Special Immunology Unit 

2061 Cornell Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
216/9844-7890

POPCE

5405 Storer Ave                                                                                                                             216-526-9026

Proyecto Luz

2226 W. 89^th St.                                                                                                                                  216-651-8236

Changes to the program include:

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligibility criteria will take into account a combination of both financial and medical need. After the financial assessment, the controlling factor will be based on the results of medical tests, to provide services to the most vulnerable clients. Clients who meet the criteria for medical exceptions may be enrolled.
• All Ohioans diagnosed with HIV, regardless of income level, will be eligible for Ryan White case management services such as assistance in applying for patient assistance programs.
• Existing clients, who are specifically impacted by financial eligibility changes effective July 1, will be notified and given the opportunity to provide updated financial documents within 30 days.
• New program applicants above 300 percent federal poverty level will not be eligible for HIV medications from the Ryan White program.  Case managers will assist them in applying for Patient Assistance programs sponsored by the pharmaceutical manufacturers.
• Client eligibility will be reviewed every six months for access to medications.

Implementation of a waiting list for new applicants

• New potential clients at 300 percent poverty level and below, applying to the program, will be prioritized based on medical eligibility, effective July 1. Applicants who do not meet medical eligibility criteria will be placed on a waiting list.

Change in drug formulary

• The revised formulary will still exceed national public health service guidelines for HIV care. 
• All currently available antiretroviral agents will remain on the formulary.
• Medications removed from the formulary, for health problems including cardiac conditions, management of diabetes, management of acid reflux and diarrhea, while clearly important in the care of all clients, were removed to preserve resources to pay for HIV medications.

Other program reductions

• Elimination of non-core services (e.g. housing, utilities, transportation, nutrition).
• Reduction of dental services except for emergencies.
• Reductions in internal ODH funding.

Ohio HIV Drug Assistance Program (OHDAP) main line is 1-800-777-4775

Complete article can be read at  http://www.ohioaidscoalition.org

Please check CALENDAR for dates and times.

Creative demonstration by participants.

Dr. Hanrahan entertains questions in June.

Nurse Practitioner, Michelle Caffey, presented "Understanding Labs" in August.

This is a good question. The answer is that the antiretroviral medications (the ones that fight HIV) are the same for people for HIV and AIDS.

People become HIV-infected when a patient’s CD4 falls below 200 (a sign of injured immune system) or if they develop one of several specific infections, then they have the diagnois of AIDS. (We don’t use the term “full blown” because it has no medical meaning and only frightens people).  AIDS means a person has HIV and their immune system has really been weakened. We try to start medications (antiretroviral therapy) for people before they develop AIDS, but the same medications still help people with AIDS.

Before 1996, the diagnosis of AIDS usually meant that someone would die within 3 years, or sooner.  Now someone with AIDS (think of it as a “severe” HIV infection) can have a much improved immune system and do well.

Today, people with HIV and AIDS are started on medications. If they can take the medications and get good care, then they can do well and live pretty healthy lives.

Susan Hunt, MD