25 Stories: Jennifer

Here on our blog, we talk a lot about Care Coordination, housing, and other supportive services for those living with HIV. But what does that have to do with preventing the spread of HIV? All of those services help lower the viral load of our HIV+ clients, making them healthier and less likely to transmit HIV to others. We also reach out to populations most at-risk for transmitting or contracting HIV and give them the resources they need to keep themselves and other safe. Take Jennifer, for example. 

Jennifer first came to The Damien Center as a teen uncertain of how to protect herself from HIV and STDs. But by the time she left, she knew exactly how to keep herself healthy and safe. Jennifer's story is one of hundreds like it - our youth outreach program, Teen Damien, gives young people like Jennifer both the knowledge and bravery to care for their own sexual health.

Jennifer came to our Joseph F. Miller Testing Center for resources and support after participating in safe sex programming through her school. After being tested for the full range of STDs as well as pregnancy, Jennifer and her boyfriend worked with our prevention staff to learn the appropriate way to put on a condom and engage in other safe sex practices. Through Teen Damien, Jennifer is now educated and empowered to take control of her life and her sexual health. Jennifer and other teens like her represent the potential we have to create an AIDS-free generation through early prevention education.

Teen Damien is just one of our prevention and education programs. Project CORE helps recently incarcerated individuals stay HIV- and drug-free, our counseling services help people lower their risk of contracting HIV, and our HIV and STD testing services give anyone and everyone a place to get tested and stay safe and healthy. Your year-end contribution supports services like these that prevent the spread of HIV right here in Central Indiana. Make a gift today and help us work toward an AIDS-free generation.

25 Stories: Paying it forward for the holidays

The holidays are upon us. We're celebrating, decorating, spending time with friends and family, and reflecting on why we celebrate in the first place. We're also shopping for gifts like crazy, milking these very last few days before Christmas to find the perfect gifts for our loved ones (or maybe just those we're obligated to get gifts for). Paul Pickett understands. As a giver of gifts to more than 70 people, this Damien Center board member knows that gift-giving can be as stressful as it is fun. But this year? Paul's got a better idea. Read his story below to find out what he's giving this holiday season and, more importantly, why.
 
One of my favorite parts of the holidays is the hunt for great presents. From my 18-month-old godson to an 80-year-old friend, my list is varied and long, so finding the perfect gift for everyone isn't always easy.

This holiday season, I made a decision to pay it forward. I wanted a more powerful way to let my friends and family know how much I appreciate, care for, and love them. So this year, anyone over 16 on my list will have a donation made in their name to The Damien Center.

Instead of giving another pretty vase or antique letter opener, I'm giving the gift of support, care, and needed services for those living with HIV and helping educate the public on how we can prevent the spread of HIV in our community.
 
The Damien Center is near and dear to my heart. For 25 years, the Center has cared for those living with HIV and led the fight to prevent the spread of HIV. This year, I encourage you to give a gift from the heart and one that keeps on giving. Give a donation to The Damien Center and know that your gift supports real people in need, like many of the stories you've been reading throughout the year.

Inspired to give your loved ones a life-saving gift this holiday season? Make a 25th anniversary gift of $250 or more today and become a member of our one-time only Quarter Century Club, a special giving society to honor those we've served over the past 25 years.

Bonus: When you give a gift in a loved one's honor this holiday season, we'll even send them a card letting them know a gift was made in their name. Give a special gift today! 

25 Stories: Peter

Peter was released from prison late last year. When he first came to The Damien Center to access transportation assistance, 33-year-old HIV+ Peter was living with his sister in Marion County. He was employed but struggled daily to get to work on time. Not only did Peter lack reliable transportation, but he also often came to his appointments in over-sized clothing with holes in his shirts and shoes. The problem? Peter worked in a hot factory, where baggy, torn clothing was both unsafe and uncomfortable. Peter often worked six days each week, frequently neglecting his health and missing medical appointments because he was trying so hard to make an honest living.

Peter's Damien Center Care Coordinator knew Peter just wanted to be healthy and self-sufficient, no matter how hard it would be. Together, they took additional time to work on transportation security and help Peter obtain appropriate and safe clothing for work and other events. They also developed a contract that Peter signed agreeing to attend all his medical appointments as scheduled to help him maintain his health. Peter was referred to Wishard for immediate medication and other medical services, including applying for additional health insurance through Wishard Advantage.

Today, Peter is on the road to success. Since he first came to The Damien Center, Peter has further utilized the agency to obtain new housing through the HOPWA (Housing Assistance for People With AIDS) program. Peter has been in the HOPWA program for nearly a year and continues to work hard and meet the responsibilities of the program, steadily moving toward self-sufficiency and a positive, healthy lifestyle. Peter has not only continuously expressed his gratitude for the services and help he has received, he has expressed an interest in contributing his time one day to similar work. Peter hopes he can one day give back to help those who are in the position he once was in. 

Peter is one of thousands of individuals The Damien Center empowers each year to move forward with dignity in face of HIV. Read more stories like Peter's and give today so more success stories are possible. 

25 Stories: Just keep playing

When Ben was diagnosed with HIV in 1999, he was on the brink of death. By the time he went to the hospital for a cold that had gotten out of control, he was down to a mere 120 pounds and didn’t want to acknowledge the reality of what was going on. “I was there for six weeks and almost died,” Ben says. “I had the whole thing. I had pneumocystis pneumonia. I had Kaposi’s sarcoma. It was a long road to get better.”

Slowly—very slowly—he did get better. “It took me a really long time to become undetectable, like years,” he says. But for Ben, it was like playing a game where he just kept working toward his goal. “Just keep playing, keep playing, keep playing,” Ben’s doctor would tell him. Today? “I’m very healthy. It’s learning how to deal with it, learning how to know that you have it, but not live because of it. You live in spite of it,” he explains. 

Ben credits his personal will to live—and many, many medications—with the fact that he’s alive today. “I’ve seen so many people, so many good friends, who have passed away. They get it and they die. They give up. You don’t have to give up. I don’t ever give up on anything, and maybe that’s something that’s helped me.”

Then, a few years ago, Ben began to stay consistently undetectable. “It was like, guess what, we won. That was an amazing moment,” he says. “It’s so cool that I get to live with it. It’s not beating me, and it’s not going to as far as I know. I won’t let it. I do everything I can do so it won’t.”   

Ben admits it isn’t always easy. Some days, insurance and medications and phone calls and appointments are just too much, and the temptation to give up and be done is almost too much to bear. And then he remembers how far he’s come. “You can get through it, and you can get there, because I have, and I have nobody,” he says. “There was one point when I didn’t think I would be 48 years old, because back when I first heard about it, people were living for six months.”

He also feels hopeful about how far the disease has come in terms of treatment, medications, and supportive organizations like The Damien Center. “I have a really good life, and that’s amazing to me,” Ben says. “It’s really amazing to me that I’ve gotten to see so much of it happen. I want to see it end, and I really believe that I’m going to. I really believe that in my heart and in my soul.”

Help us support individuals like Ben and work toward anAIDS-free generation by giving to our 25th anniversary giving campaign. 

25 Stories: Celeste

When Celeste, a 30-year-old Hispanic woman, moved to Indiana from another state, she had planned to support herself through her profession as a nail stylist. What she didn't know was that Indiana requires a license to do nails, meaning that she would have to go back to school to continue supporting herself, despite her experience and track record as a nail stylist. Celeste, who is HIV+, was unable to pay her rent and utilities, and quickly became depressed about her inability to support herself.

According to a case manager at The Damien Center, she was moving into a "very dark place." Celeste was encouraged to apply for and was accepted to the HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS) program, a long-term housing assistance program for people who are HIV+. This housing assistance allowed her the freedom to return to school to obtain the necessary license, enabling her to once again begin earning an income. Celeste is now in the process of transitioning off of the HOPWA program and even recently won a competition for nail design. None of this would have been possible without the assistance provided by The Damien Center. Today, Celeste has emerged from her depression and is proud of where her life is headed as a strong, HIV+ woman.

Celeste's story is one of hundreds like it: she was in a desperate place in her life,The Damien Center empowered her to find assistance in turning her life around, and now she's stronger and healthier because of it. Celeste's story is also part of our 25th anniversary year-end giving campaign. You can read more impact stories like hers and make a donation on our website. Make more success stories possible!

25 Stories: Art + AIDS

An Illinois native, David K. moved to upstate New York after graduating from college in 1976 with a degree in the arts. With dozens of friends and acquaintances living in New York City, David did a lot of traveling back and forth from Rochester to the city, so when HIV reared its head in the early 80s, David was in the thick of it. “People were just dropping like flies, especially in the arts,” he remembers. “It just seemed like the end of the world.” David, who remains HIV negative to this day, wanted to do something, anything, to educate the public and give AIDS patients and their families a place to express themselves. So, as a gallery curator at the University of Rochester, David began curating exhibitions on visual art and poetry from the AIDS community. “That was my way of beginning to at least make people start having a discussion about how they felt,” he explains. “It was mentally very devastating to see so much of the art community just passing away without any thought of their artwork or what’s going to happen to their legacy after they’re gone.”

New York City-based artist Sue Coe’s radical work always struck a chord with David, who wanted to show her work in his exhibit. He shares his memories of Coe and curating AIDS-related art here:

Early on, I went to one of her lectures. I knew that she had done artwork dealing with AIDS, and her artwork is always very in-your-face militant, whether it’s about slaughterhouses, or rape, or AIDS. She went to Texas and spent time in an AIDS unit in a hospital, and she got to know AIDS patients and did this series prints about these AIDS patients. I talked to her very briefly before her lecture and I told her I’d been curating exhibits about AIDS, and she said, “Well, I should be in your exhibit,” and I said, “I would love that” and she said, “Well write to my gallery and we’ll see what we can do.” 

Well, she’s in a famous gallery in New York City, and I wrote two or three letters to them and of course they wanted me to buy her artwork in order to exhibit it, so I finally just gave up. And then I came home one day and in my mail was a card from Sue Coe. And she said, “I hear you’re having trouble with my gallery. I’m giving you a suite of my prints if you promise to exhibit them.” It was just an amazing gift, so I started showing her work on a regular basis.

She actually worked with a doctor who was also an artist in Texas. He was an AIDS specialist, Eric Avery, and he ended up doing prints on paper that was made out of sheets from the beds of the AIDS patients. They would shred the sheets, the cotton, and make the sheets of paper out of the cotton, and then he would do his prints on these very personalized pieces of paper that came from the AIDS wing of the hospital. So her work was just amazing. She really wanted to get out there. She actually would have openings in New York City, and she would have testing going on in the gallery while she was having her opening. This was in the late 80s and early 90s. That was pretty radical for that time. I think she probably is one of the highlights of my exhibits. It’s also amazing to think of all the people who were in the exhibits who are gone. I’m glad that I had those years to do the exhibits.