A day at The Damien Center

Picture a day with us. Our lobby is packed. Both client computers are in use for job searches. A young woman is requesting an emergency appointment with housing, since her job ended unexpectedly. A gentleman has re-entered care and our staff is walking him through available services.

A woman has visited the food pantry and now waits for her appointment in the medical clinic. One patient is learning about health insurance options while the partner of an individual living with HIV is learning about preventive medications. The testing center is busy, helping clients learn their status and explore different prevention methods.

Then, an HIV+ patient, Michelle*, steps out of her care specialist's office, a mix of relief and pride on her face. In 2013, she re-entered care after having dropped out of care years before. Her viral load was dangerously high - over one million. Don't know much about HIV viral loads? The number represents the amount of HIV in the body, and Michelle was in risky territory.

Our intense personalized plan to support Michelle included daily phone calls to be sure she stuck to her strict medical regimen and weekly home visits. We walked alongside her, helping her eliminate the barriers to care that she was contending with.

That's how our approach works - every patient works with our staff to develop an individualized care plan that provides the specific support they need to get their health back on track. The end goal? To empower patients to get in care and stay in care.

It's been six months, and Michelle has just learned that she has achieved an undetectable viral load. The most amazing thing about Michelle's story? It's not unusual for our patients. The most effective way to prevent new HIV infections is to identify every individual living with HIV and provide them with the support they need to achieve undetectable viral loads. Our staff has helped Linkage to Care patients achieve an average viral load reduction of 93% within their first year in the program precisely through stories just like this one.

Our comprehensive approach changes lives, and remarkable outcomes like this are our norm. On our website, you can explore more about what we do to empower our patients as well as help us restore health to our patients and eliminate the threat of HIV for future generations. Help us make more incredible stories like Michelle's possible in 2015!

*Client's name has been changed.

It's National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

In 2013, more than 40% of individuals who got tested for HIV at The Damien Center were black.*

Black youth ages 13-24 represent 57% of all new HIV infections among young people.*

Blacks represent only 14% of the U.S. population, but 44% of all new HIV infections.*

Do we have your attention yet? Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and it's time for us all to take a closer look at how HIV and AIDS affect the black community. It deserves our attention. Whether you're black or white or Latino or from Mars, it's easy to see that this issue is important not just in the United States, but right here in our community.

Stigma, socioeconomic factors, high prevalence of STDs, and drug use are just a few of the complex issues that the black community faces in the fight against HIV.

Learn more and find out what you can do at blackaidsday.org/.

*CDC Fact Sheet - HIV and AIDS among African Americans

News roundup: HIV in the headlines

We like to think we're pretty lucky. As an HIV/AIDS service organization, not only do we get to do meaningful work that makes an actual difference in the lives of people affected by HIV, but also we get to see changes happening in our field on an almost constant basis. Yeah, some of them don't pan out the way we think they will, but we're encouraged to see scientists trying new approaches to finding a vaccine or cure for HIV. We're also encouraged to see more and more people engaging with the cause to end HIV/AIDS and support those living with it, eradicate the stigma surrounding HIV, remember those who have lived and died with HIV/AIDS, and have tough conversations about sex, HIV, and how it all fits together.

We also know the news is hard to keep up with, so we're going to be collecting and sharing some top headlines for you more often in 2014. Our hope is that you'll take a few minutes to see what's happening with HIV around the globe. Please keep in mind that by sharing these links, we are in no way making endorsements.

Encouraging First-Year Results for the "Increasing Access to HIV Care and Treatment" Initiative
Blog.AIDS.gov - January 3, 2014

HIV returns in two patients after bone marrow transplant 
CNN.com - December 9, 2013

Life Expectancy for North Americans With HIV Reaches Historic High
TheBodyPro.com - December 19, 2013

New Studies Unlock Mystery Of How HIV Causes AIDS
HuffingtonPost.com - December 19, 2013

Women with bisexual partners account for new HIV cases: study
NYPost.com - January 1, 2014

Taking HIV prevention pill may not encourage risky sex: U.S. study
Reuters.com- December 18, 2013

Happy reading, and Happy New Year!

Top Posts of 2013

We've had a fun year with you, blog-readers. We've chatted about what pizza has to do with our food pantry, the 44 amazing restaurants that gave back through Dining Out for Life, and our insanely awesome volunteers, who keep things chugging along. Plus, we got excited about chili and tried to convince you to volunteer once. Okay, maybe twice. We also touched on some really serious and important topics, like what one incredible young woman is doing to fight HIV stigma in our community, how we're working to support high-risk groups, and what our strategy is for successfully preventing the spread of HIV and empowering those affected by it.      

So, we thought it'd be fun to look back and see what your favorite posts were this year. Take a read through these top posts, and then tell us what you'd like to read about in 2014. Enjoy!

Top Posts of 2013 

5. Forty Five Degrees, Yogulatte owner long-time Damien supporter - April 23, 2013

4. Go see Naked Boys Singing and support The Damien Center! - February 8, 2013

3. Costume Ideas: The Disco Ball Edition - September 24, 2013

2. Why Santorini Greek Kitchen gives back - April 5, 2013

1. Do you need to get linked? - May 30, 2013

Welcome, Damien Center AmeriCorps Volunteers!

This week, The Damien Center family welcomed three new members to our team to help us in prevention and testing, volunteer management, housing, and in our food pantry. Erin, Catherine, and Nahom are joining The Damien Center via the AIDS United AmeriCorps Program, a national AmeriCorps program focusing specifically on HIV prevention and care.

The Damien Center is one of seven cities across the United States where AIDS United AmeriCorps Volunteers work to fight HIV/AIDS, save lives, deliver resources, and support a range of HIV/AIDS service organizations. The program focuses on supporting these organizations while training the next generation of AIDS leaders. The Damien Center is one of several sites across Indianapolis where AIDS United AmeriCorps Volunteers are placed.

Erin Orme, hailing from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and, more recently, Loyola University in Chicago, is joining The Damien Center's Development Department to manage the volunteers that keep the Center ticking. Catherine Malin is from Illinois and is a recent graduate of the College of William and Mary in beautiful Williamsburg, Virginia. She will be working in The Damien Center's Testing and Prevention Department. Nahom Tecle, an Ohio native and Indiana University graduate, will be working in our Housing Assistance Program as well as our Food Pantry. 

We are thrilled to have these three incredible volunteers on our team! We look forward to seeing them grow as leaders while helping Damien Center continue as a leader in HIV prevention and care. Welcome, Erin, Catherine, and Nahom!

Celebrating Successes: Our 2012 Annual Report

When we sat down and started to brainstorm what our 2012 Annual Report would look like, we envisioned something different - something that would capture our innovative programming, showcase our commitment to fighting HIV, and help our donors and supporters better understand what really happens at The Damien Center on a daily basis.

Enter Jane and John. These two fictional clients take readers on a journey from getting tested for HIV to finding stable housing and getting connected with health care, and everything in the middle. As Jane and John access a range of Damien Center services, they are able to stay healthy even as they are infected or affected by HIV. Jane and John represent the thousands of individuals we reach every year through HIV testing, Care Coordination, counseling, housing, and many other programs.

Our 25th year of service - 2012 - was truly our best yet. As a leader in HIV prevention and care, The Damien Center sits at the forefront of a national movement toward Linkage to Care, which is just one key piece of the ever-growing puzzle to eradicate HIV. Each of our programs is carefully designed to tackle different aspects of this complex issue.

We hope you'll take a read through our 2012 Annual Report and explore what it's like to be a client at The Damien Center by following along with Jane and John. It's because of supporters like you that we can continue to offer our services completely free of charge to those in need in our community. Thank you, and enjoy!

Do you need to get linked?

Are you HIV+ and haven't seen your HIV doctor in a year or more? Or maybe you know someone who is HIV+ who hasn't seen their HIV doctor in a year or more? A new program at The Damien Center is here to help.

The Linkage to Care (L2C) Program is designed to reconnect HIV+ individuals with the care they need to get and stay healthy as they manage their disease. The program also targets newly diagnosed HIV+ individuals who need support as they navigate their new experience. The goal of L2C? We're working to eliminate barriers to care and support, get more HIV+ individuals into care, and reduce our community viral load as a result. The overall outcome is a healthier community!

L2C staff can help with:

• Gathering documents needed to get free or reduced-price insurance coverage. Need help getting your INET statement? A new state ID?
• Providing transportation to appointments
• Attending doctor's appointments with you
• Understanding your doctor's recommendations
• Childcare during appointments
• Understanding your medication and how to take it
• Reminder calls to take your medication
• Accessing community resources (food, housing, utility assistance, etc.)
• Understanding your HIV diagnosis

There is no cost for Linkage to Care services! If you are HIV+, you can automatically access all of our services. Please contact us today to get linked with the care you need.

Visit damien.org/linkage or contact:
Abbe Shapiro, Linkage to Care Program Manager
ashapiro@damien.org or 317.632.0123 ext. 263
Call or text 317.296.3687

Damien Center Director of Prevention earns Stand & Deliver nom

Recently, Merz Aesthetics, distributor of Asclera^® (polidocanol) Injection, along with an advisory panel of women who were selected for their significant abilities to Stand & Deliver, searched the nation for inspirational women who are changing their communities one day at a time through support of a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Where did they find one of their finalists? Right here at The Damien Center!

Our own Director of Prevention Rhonda Bayless has been selected as a finalist for her outstanding work with the Center of Wellness for Urban Women. "We aim to provide women access to the tools and resources to help in their journey to living a healthy life," says Rhonda, who founded the CWUW in Indianapolis.

According to Akilah Webster, who nominated Rhonda, she is "a caring, giving, dedicated woman who works tirelessly and selflessly in the Indianapolis community. Not only does she work extremely hard at the Damien Center, a nonprofit org that provides services to HIV/AIDS affected individuals, she also founded the Center of Wellness for Urban Women, a nonprofit that empowers women and their families to become more proactive about their health." The Stand and Deliver grand prize includes $10,000 from Merz Aesthetics and Asclera^® to support the charity of Rhonda's choice as well as a professional makeover.

We are proud to have Rhonda on our team here at The Damien Center and encourage all our friends and supporters to cast your vote for her to win the Stand & Deliver award!

Voting is easy and you can vote for Rhonda once per day until April 19. Vote now!!

And the Oscar goes to...

Sunday is the 85th Academy Awards, and for at least one of us here at The Damien Center, that means movie-watching season is in full swing. The quest to see all nine Best Picture nominees before the red carpet gets rolled out is an annual tradition I share with a few friends, but luckily, the task is made easier by AMC's Best Picture Showcase. All nine films, two Saturdays, and lots of well-timed bathroom breaks.

Last Saturday kicked off with Amour, Les Misérables, Argo, and Django Unchained—not the most upbeat of movie marathons. After a long and emotional journey through love and death in Amour, we then took on the fate of France's poorest in Les Mis, the intense evacuation of six Americans during the Iran Hostage Crisis in Argo, and finally, Jamie Foxx's portrayal of a freed slave turned bounty hunter in the quintessentially Tarantino Django. The coming weekend will feature the remaining five Best Picture nominees: Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Life of Pi, Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook, and Lincoln.

And on Sunday, celebrities will get big, fancy awards. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing—the list goes on and on. But two weeks ago, quietly, away from the clamor of the Best Picture nominees and the glitz of the red carpet, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented its annual Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards. These awards, folks, are the really incredible ones. The recipients are doing things that revolutionize the way movies are made, like making computer-generated creatures more realistic and improving workflow with software that can take on entirely new processes. You can read about the winners and be amazed here.

And what does this have to do with The Damien Center? We got to thinking—who's working behind the scenes here? Who are background technicians, the people who make things tick and innovate and move the field forward? Like the Scientific and Technical Achievement Award winners, they've got ideas and stories worth telling about, even if they don't get the Hollywood-ified treatment the stars do. So we're going to change that. We want you to know more about what's going on here at The Damien Center, so we're going to start featuring stories from our staff members. What do they do, why do they do it, who do they serve? What does a day in their shoes look like? Our care coordinators, HIV/STD testers, food pantry staff, housing managers, counselors, and many, many more are the real award winners around here. In the coming months, look for stories from these folks and others. You'll be amazed at the incredible things happening behind the scenes.

Tomorrow is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Tomorrow is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and here's the reality: of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, HIV/AIDS affects Blacks the most. In 2009, an estimated 16,741 Blacks were diagnosed with AIDS in the U.S. By the end of 2008, an estimated 240,627 Blacks with an AIDS diagnosis had died in the US. In 2007, HIV was the ninth leading cause of death for all Blacks and the third leading cause of death for both Black men and Black women aged 35–44.

Listening yet? National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is one way we, as members of a community working toward an AIDS-free generation, can start doing something about these statistics. NBHAAD started as a grassroots effort to bring awareness to the severity of what HIV/AIDS and has grown into a nationwide effort to encourage people to get educated, get tested, get involved, and get treated.

While the number of new HIV infections per year among Blacks is down from its peak in the late 1980s, it still has exceeded the number of infections among whites since that time. Even more startling, at some point in their lifetimes, one in 16 Black men will be diagnosed with HIV infection, as will one in 32 Black women.

Having a better idea of how significant the HIV/AIDS epidemic is among the Black population in the U.S. sheds some light on why we should be addressing it. And the good thing is, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day makes it easy to get involved. Here are a few ways you can connect with NBHAAD and show your support:

• blackaidsday.org
• @NatBlackAIDSDay
• #NBHAAD
• NBHAAD on Facebook
• NBHAAD on YouTube

So send a tweet, post a comment, or just follow along with the conversation. Knowledge is power!

Back to Basics: HIV 101

There are certain things that we know about HIV that we hold close and turn to for support when we advocate for our cause. For example, here in Indiana, we know that 10,000 people are living with HIV, and that roughly half of those people are right here in Marion County. The CDC also tells us that one in five people (an astonishing 20%) who are living with HIV don't even know they're infected. Powerful statistics, no doubt. But let's get back to something even more basic, something that can help us all understand what we're fighting for and why we care about this issue. What is HIV, and what is AIDS?

Thanks to AIDS.gov, an official U.S. Government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, we've got an easy breakdown of answers to these questions.  (Just to be clear, the content below belongs to AIDS.gov. Please see .aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/ for more great resources and information on HIV.)

***

First, what is HIV?

To understand what HIV is, let’s break it down:

H – Human – This particular virus can only infect human beings.
I – Immunodeficiency – HIV weakens your immune system by destroying important cells that fight disease and infection. A "deficient" immune system can't protect you.
V – Virus – A virus can only reproduce itself by taking over a cell in the body of its host.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a lot like other viruses, including those that cause the flu or the common cold. But there is an important difference – over time, your immune system can clear most viruses out of your body. That isn't the case with HIV – the human immune system can't seem to get rid of it. Scientists are still trying to figure out why.

We know that HIV can hide for long periods of time in the cells of your body and that it attacks a key part of your immune system – your T-cells or CD4 cells. Your body has to have these cells to fight infections and disease, but HIV invades them, uses them to make more copies of itself, and then destroys them.
Over time, HIV can destroy so many of your CD4 cells that your body can't fight infections and diseases anymore. When that happens, HIV infection can lead to AIDS.

Got it. So, what is AIDS?

To understand what AIDS is, let’s break that down, too:

A – Acquired – AIDS is not something you inherit from your parents. You acquire AIDS after birth.
I – Immuno – Your body's immune system includes all the organs and cells that work to fight off infection or disease.
D – Deficiency – You get AIDS when your immune system is "deficient," or isn't working the way it should.
S – Syndrome – A syndrome is a collection of symptoms and signs of disease. AIDS is a syndrome, rather than a single disease, because it is a complex illness with a wide range of complications and symptoms.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is the final stage of HIV infection. People at this stage of HIV disease have badly damaged immune systems, which put them at risk for opportunistic infections (OIs).
You will be diagnosed with AIDS if you have one or more specific OIs, certain cancers, or a very low number of CD4 cells. If you have AIDS, you will need medical intervention to prevent death.

For more information, see CDC’s Basic Information About HIV And AIDS.

***

We'll pick this topic up again in a few weeks to talk about how HIV works in our bodies, how it's transmitted, and other important basics. The more you know, the better you can protect yourself and others, care for those who need support, and rally around the fight to end AIDS in our community.  

25 Stories: The Next 25

25 years. 25 stories. Throughout 2012, our 25th year of service to Central Indiana, we turned our blog into a virtual melting pot of stories about HIV. We told you about Rob, who worked tirelessly to help people with HIV get the medical care they needed, and Evelyn, who was there with Earl Conner when he decided to dive head first into the AIDS epidemic by opening The Damien Center. You read about Mark, one of The Damien Center's original buddies and a lifelong HIV advocate, and Dr. Woody Myers, who stood by Ryan White's side and fought the stigma associated with HIV in the mid-1980s right here in our community. We shared stories from Charles, Elizabeth, Robert, David, and a dozen more people who, in some way or another, have been affected by HIV.

Well friends, we've got a confession to make. We only shared 24 stories with you. No, we didn't get lazy or forget. We were saving it. For you. For all of us. Number 25 is something more - something collective and holistic. It's about what we're doing now that's moving us into the future, toward an AIDS-free generation and toward healthier, happier lives for those already living with HIV.

Our grande finale, story 25, is about linking people to the care they need, like mental health and substance abuse counseling, housing assistance, a food pantry, free HIV testing, and Care Coordination—services that actually help lower the HIV viral load of our clients, improve their health, and make them less likely to transmit HIV to others. We think that's a story worth telling.

It's 2013 now, and we don't know about you, but we're chomping at the bit to see what the next 25 years will hold. We're ready to dream big, work hard, and make more history. Our 25th story is only just getting started. Will you join us?

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.

HIV: Everyone's Disease

As we move closer to wrapping up our 25th year of service to Central Indiana, we have to ask ourselves: Why do we do what we do? Who should care about HIV/AIDS? Who does it affect?

And the answer, readers, is you. And me. Our neighbors and friends. Our families and our community. Right here in Central Indiana, thousands of people are affected by HIV, whether they have it, a friend or family member has it, someone they know or love has died from it, or - like 20% of those who are HIV+ - they have it and don't know it yet.

Check out this re-cap video to hear from some of the folks we featured earlier in the year and to get your mind wandering about how much this issue matters in our city. The individuals we've been talking to throughout the year are an important reminder that HIV truly is everyone's disease.

Happy birthday to (all of) us!

Birthdays are good for celebrating, laughing, imbibing, indulging. You know the drill: cake, cocktails, loved ones, favorite places and spaces. But they're also good for looking back. Reflecting. Thinking about how far you've come and what you've been doing that matters to you and your values.

Today, I - Kimberly, your faithful Damien Center blogger and marketing coordinator - have been doing just that as I celebrate my 27th birthday. I've been asking myself, what have I been doing these last few weeks, months, and years that enriches my life and others', that makes my community a better place?

Here at The Damien Center, we've also been celebrating our birthday - all year long. It's our 25th year serving those affected by HIV in Central Indiana, and we're so proud of the legacy we have as Indiana's oldest and largest HIV/AIDS service organization. What we do and how we do it didn't start last year or last month. It started in 1987, when a caring, progressive group of people got together to support a community in crisis.

Birthday reflections, for us, have us looking at who we served, how we served them, and where our (your) funding dollars went. So, what have we been doing that matters to us, our values, and our community? In 2011, we:

• performed 2,315 free HIV tests
• reached 796 youth through prevention education
• served 1,126 clients through Care Coordination
• helped 96 families find housing
• fed 616 clients through our food pantry
• assisted 124 clients in receiving emergency financial assistance

And this is just the beginning. Birthdays are also for looking ahead to the coming year(s), planning for a strong future, setting goals, and living life. So as I and The Damien Center look ahead to our next 25 years, we hope you'll help us celebrate both where we came from and where we're going.

Looking for ways to honor our 25 year legacy? Make a donation, volunteer, walk with us in the 2012 Indiana AIDS Walk, or snag a ticket for swankiest gala in town, the 25th Annual Grande Masquerade.  

25 Stories: Trial by Fire

Steve Everett’s first job at an AIDS service organization was supposed to be temporary. He’d taken an office manager position at Indiana Community AIDS Action Network (ICAAN), then housed in The Damien Center, just until he found his first teaching job. But instead, Steve, who grew up in rural Indiana with little exposure to the HIV/AIDS crisis, became unexpectedly passionate about the cause and has continued to work in the field since he first set foot in The Damien Center in 1991.

But those days, according to Steve, never saw a dull moment. “It was kind of trial by fire in the early days working here,” he says. Because The Damien Center was housed in an archdiocese building with a handful of other HIV-related organizations—Indiana Cares, ICAAN, Indiana Youth Group, Project Outreach, to name a few—the Center became a safe haven both for people infected with HIV and those who served them. That also meant people came from far and wide to seek the HIV/AIDS services offered by The Damien Center.

“There were many, many people that were coming to The Damien Center in the very end stages of the disease. They sometimes would walk in and just collapse,” Steve explains. “It was not uncommon to leave to go to lunch and then come back and there’d be an ambulance parked right at the front door.”

Those in need of care, says Steve, would drive in to the Center from as far Paoli, Indiana; Effingham, Illinois; or Dayton, Ohio because very few places in the Midwest outside of Chicago existed to provide these needed services. “They would hear about this Damien Center and make the trip,” Steve says, “but a lot of times their health was in such bad shape, that they had to go right to the hospital.”

Today, Steve serves as the director of programs for the Indiana Family Health Council, a quasi-federal agency that provides family planning services, testing, and more across Indiana. But he hasn’t forgotten his early experiences working in the field. “Back in the early days, it was by the seat of our pants,” he says. “Everything was kind of ‘let’s see what happens and then we’ll tweak it as we go along.’ Everything was very much a crisis approach.” The approach to prevention and care now, he says, has improved drastically and is “much more formalized.” Through his service in state government, private philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations, Steve has worked tirelessly to continue moving Indiana forward in providing services for those affected by HIV and in preventing the spread of it.

Testing 123, Testing 123.

We know. Getting tested for HIV doesn't sound like too much fun. Luckily, it's also not too difficult, and thanks to our rapid HIV tests, it's not time-consuming either—you'll have your results within 20 minutes. No poking, no pricking—just a mouth swab and some quality time with one of our trained HIV tester-counselors.

Still sound a little scary? The awesome Teen Damien crew made this hilarious (but informative) video to prove that really, it's not. What it is is something that can help prevent the spread of HIV and STDs in our community.

Check it out and then stop by our testing center for a free and confidential test today.

Celebrate local artists. Prevent HIV.

At The Damien Center, we work hard to prevent the spread of HIV. But we also work hard to have fun while we're at it. This Saturday night, join us for Damienpalooza, a one-of-a-kind festival that will showcase local talent while building awareness around what HIV is and how we can all work toward an AIDS-free generation. 

 
For an easy $5, you'll take in local live music, dance, poetry, and original art while sipping on special Damienpalooza cocktails and learning what we do at The Damien Center. The historic Athenaeum Theatre will play host to this event, the first of its kind in our history. Here's a sneak peek at what's in store:

• Contemporary fine art from Kuaba Gallery
• Community partner tables and information
• Performances by lead Bonesetters musician Dan Snodgrass and local jazz combo The Jazz Men from Outer Space
• Choreography from Adrienne Jackson
• Spoken word by Charlene White
• A full-length work from new local dance company Create Freedom Dance Project 

You'll also hear from Damien Center staff and other advocates about how they work to prevent HIV and promote healthy lifestyles. Learn what you can do to prevent the spread of HIV in your community while supporting local artists, community partners, and The Damien Center.

Join us for Damienpalooza, this Saturday night from 6 to 10pm at The Athenaeum!

The Season of Giving

Did you know that we're the largest and oldest HIV/AIDS service organization in Indiana? Here are ten reasons to give a little extra this holiday season:

YOU can help make a difference!
Make a donation at www.damien.org/donate

#10: You can help serve the most people infected and affected by HIV in Indiana. Last year, we helped 1,230 people with HIV/AIDS; this holiday season, we expect to serve nearly twice as many people in December as we did last year.

#9: You can help end hunger. People living with HIV need nutritious meals to help their immune system fight the disease. We gave out over 150,000 pounds of food through our pantry this year.

#8: You can help shelter people with HIV. Stable, affordable housing helps people with HIV stay on medication. We helped house 70 families in 2011.

#7: You can help prevent the spread of HIV. We provided more than 2,000 free and confidential HIV tests so far this year - up from last year's total of 1,533.

#6: You can help keep young people safe from the disease; individuals 20-24 account for the highest rates of new infections. We reached more than 700 young people with information on how HIV is transmitted and how to keep themselves safe this year, and we expect that number to double in 2012.

#5: You can help end stigma and discrimination. We provide legal services for people infected or affected by HIV with discrimination issues, living and legal wills, and various other civil legal matters.

#4: You can help people with HIV get jobs. As medications get better, more people with HIV are living healthy lives they didn’t expect to have; we teach skills that help them reenter the workforce.

#3: You can help formerly incarcerated individuals receive interventions that reduce substance abuse and other risky behaviors. We help these individuals keep themselves and others safe from HIV.

#2: You can help link people with HIV to health insurance that makes life-saving medication affordable.

#1: You can help us end HIV. We distribute more than 5,000 condoms every year; without a cure, condoms are one of the only sure-fire ways we can stop the spread of HIV. 

Saturday Testing - New Hours!

Our Saturday testing is temporarily changing! Walgreens on 16th and Meridian is undergoing a renovation, so we'll be testing here at The Damien Center's Joseph F. Miller Testing Center (26 N Arsenal Ave) the first four Saturdays of the month from 10-3. We're excited to see the new building when it's finished!