Is PrEP right for you?

At The Damien Center, we're always looking for new tools to add to our HIV prevention toolbox. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is one of those tools. It's the new(er) kid on the HIV block, and we want you to be informed about what it is it, how it works, and if it might be the right prevention tool for you. The best way to figure that out? Check out our Q & A below and contact us today to keep the conversation about PrEP going. Jeremy Turner, our Director of Supportive Services, is available at 317.632.0123 ext. 254 or jturner@damien.org.

What is PrEP?
PrEP is a new HIV prevention approach where HIV-negative individuals use HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) medications to reduce their risk of becoming infected if they are exposed to the virus. The medications work to prevent HIV from establishing infection inside the body. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Truvada, an HIV medication, for PrEP use in 2012.

Who does PrEP work for?
PrEP has been shown to reduce risk of HIV infection through sex for gay and bisexual men, transgender women, and heterosexual men and women, as well as among people who inject drugs. PrEP has been shown to help reduce HIV infection risk in multiple studies, including the iPrEx trial, Partners PrEP, TDF2, and the Bangkok Tenofovir Study.

How well does PrEP work?
Truvada for PrEP provides a significant reduction in HIV risk for HIV-negative individuals who take the pills every day as directed. If a daily dose is missed, the level of HIV protection may decrease. It only works if you take it. People who use PrEP correctly and consistently have higher levels of protection against HIV. It does not protect against other sexually transmitted infections (STI) or pregnancy and should still be used in conjunction with condoms. It is not a cure for HIV.

Is PrEP right for me?
PrEP may be right for you if you have a partner or partners known to be HIV-1 infected OR are a gay, bisexual, or other man who has sex with men in a high HIV prevalence area or social network and has one or more of the following conditions: a diagnosis of a bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the last year; exposure to an STI through a sexual network in the last year; 10 or more sexual partners in the last year; used methamphetamine in the last year; or had unprotected anal intercourse with a partner of unknown HIV-1 status with any of the factors listed above.

I think PrEP might be right for me. What's next?
If you’re interested in learning more on how to access PrEP, contact Jeremy Turner, Damien Center Director of Supportive Services, at 317.632.0123 ext. 254 or jturner@damien.org, or ask your physician about PrEP.

A look back at 2014 at The Damien Center

It's officially the last day of 2014, and we're officially running on adrenaline from all the exciting things that happened here over the past year! It was a busy one, and in the spirit of looking back in order to look forward, we put together this little Storify to help us out.

It's populated by photos from our Instagram, so if you like what you're seeing, hop on over and follow along for our 2015 adventures. Enjoy!

Are you a Damien Center client? Help us out!

Damien Center clients, we need your help. We're getting ready to overhaul our website and communications, and we want to get your feedback before we hit the ground running. What information do you look for on our website? Is it easy to navigate? What's missing?

Our survey is quick and painless, but it will help us build a website that provides what you're looking for in the easiest way possible.

Who qualifies as a Damien Center client? If you're accessing (or have accessed in the past) any of our services, that's you! We hope you'll take a few minutes to help us help you by giving your thoughts and feedback.

Take our client survey now!

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.

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!

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.

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: 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.

25 Stories: The Loneliest Night

Charles describes the night he was diagnosed with HIV as one of the loneliest nights of his life. A few years out of a divorce from his wife of 30 years and trying to get back on his feet, Charles went in regularly for HIV testing and knew in the back of his mind that his past behaviors could have put him at risk. When a new online relationship was on the verge of becoming serious, Charles informed his potential partner that he was HIV negative. “Then I thought, you know, if I tell him I’m negative, I need to be negative, so I’ll go in and get tested,” he remembers. “All of a sudden [the tester] looked at me, and her face froze, and she put her hand on my knee, and she said, ‘Honey, I’ve got some bad news for you.’”

From then on, Charles’ life took a downward spiral. That night, the night learned his HIV status had changed, he was lonelier than he’d ever been. In the coming months, he would suffer panic attacks, endure painful reactions to HIV medications, and begin to plan how he would take his life. Charles would lie awake at night, thinking about how it was the only choice he had left. “I began to keep a pad of paper there by my bed, and I would write down things that I wanted to tell my family when they found me, things I wanted them to know,” he says. Once sleep deprivation set in, Charles fell further into depression, nearing the point where things would end.

And then one day, after weeks of plotting the details of his suicide, Charles came across a packet of information he’d received on one of his visits to get tested for HIV. In that bag was a flyer about The Damien Center. “I thought, you know, I guess it can’t hurt anything,” he says. “So I came in here and talked to one of the Care Coordinators.” That visit saved his life. Once his Care Coordinator learned of his plans to take his life, she worked with Charles to connect him with the resources he needed to improve his quality of life and physical and mental health.

Today, Charles gives back to The Damien Center by volunteering and supporting the agency with financial contributions. “Six years later, here I am,” he says. Alive, healthy, and continuing to move his life in a positive direction.

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.

My Name is Earl ... Conner.

Earl Conner: retired Episcopalian minister and committed AIDS activist. Not the namesake of The Damien Center—we'll get to that in a minute—but the man behind what has become Indiana's oldest and largest HIV/AIDS service organization. In the mid-1980s, when HIV and AIDS were still murky, scary, concepts, Earl stepped up to fight the spread of this deadly disease in his community. His alarm at the growing AIDS crisis in Indianapolis led him to seek a coordinated community response by uniting existing groups within one facility. With support from Christ Church Cathedral, an Episcopal church, and the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, a Catholic church, Earl established the Damien Center in an empty and forgotten archdiocese building in April of 1987.


Earl's friend Evelyn describes those first few months of planning and opening The Damien Center in this post. Though founded as an inter-faith collaboration, The Damien Center is now a fully independent, non-sectarian, not-for-profit public corporation, and Earl's vision for Indianapolis has, in 25 years, saved thousands of lives and enriched thousands more. The Damien Center is now a leader in HIV prevention, education, awareness, and advocacy. In 2011 alone, we served 1,126 clients through care coordination and administered 2,412 free HIV tests.

So where does The Damien Center's name come from? The Center is named after the Blessed Father Damien, a Belgian Catholic priest famed for his compassionate care for those affected by Hansen's Disease, or leprosy, on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Fr. Damien battled the religious and societal rejection of those living with the disease, choosing to live with and among them in the Molokai "lepers' colony" from 1873 until his own death from Hansen's Disease in 1889. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II and became a saint in October of 2009.

His compassion and care, along with Earl Conner's vision, live on through the work we now do at The Damien Center.

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.

25 Stories: Kim Johnson

Kim met Joe in 1974, and the next 28 years of their lives were a whirlwind of activities: anniversary parties, family deaths, building careers, and more.

In 2002, Kim fell ill with one disease after another. Shingles, panic attacks, coughing, a “type” of pneumonia…the list goes on. Eventually, Kim became hospitalized in September 2002, and doctors gave him an HIV test.

“Mr. Johnson, you have AIDS.”

With a CD4 count of 26 at diagnosis*, Kim’s family never expected him to leave the hospital – but Kim never thought about dying. Unfortunately, Joe wasn’t prepared to live his life without Kim, so he took his own life. When Kim left the hospital, it wasn’t because he was well; it was because there was a funeral.

The next two years were full of grief, doctors, starting medication, and learning everything he could about HIV/AIDS. In 2004, Kim’s friends flew him to New Mexico for a New Year’s Day brunch where Kim met John.

The two hit it off instantly, talking every day for a month. It was then that Kim divulged his HIV status. John said it was a non-issue; he knew how it was spread and how to prevent the virus’ spread. “He was in no way judgmental,” Kim remembers.

Eventually, John moved in with Kim in Indianapolis. To this day, they are a “discordant couple,” or a couple where one partner is HIV-positive and the other is HIV-negative. The disease doesn’t define their relationship.

Kim is currently the co-chair of The Damien Center's Client Services Committee and has been actively involved with the Ryan White Planning Council.

“My new mission now is to be more open, and to get out the message about HIV/AIDS.”

* A person’s CD4 count is how many CD4 cells a person has; these cells are the part of the immune system that HIV attacks. A person with a healthy immune system may have anything between 500 and 1600; a CD4 count under 200 qualifies a person for an AIDS diagnosis. A CD4 count of 0 is almost certain death.

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. 

World AIDS Day - ten ways to get to zero!

HIV is a worldwide epidemic, and it’s affecting every part of our local community; in Indiana, there were 9,837 people living with HIV/AIDS in 2010. This year, World AIDS Day on December 1 is all about “Getting to Zero” – that is, zero HIV-related deaths, zero new infections, and zero stigma. Here are ten ways you can help observe World AIDS Day, make a difference, and help your community get to zero:

1. Talk about it openly and honestly. HIV isn’t something to be ashamed of, but there’s a lot of stigma surrounding the disease. Just being open to talking about it can make people less afraid and more proactive in protecting themselves and their loved ones.
2. Wear a condom. This is the best way of protecting yourself – and it can be the most fun! Ribbed, magnum, ultra-thin - there are hundreds of different kinds of condoms from which to choose, and there’s a perfect condom for every situation. Don’t forget about insertive/female condoms! Many public health, family planning, and HIV/AIDS service organizations give out quality condoms for free.
3. Get tested. Many people don’t show symptoms of HIV for 10 or more years; nation-wide, one in five people don’t know that they’re HIV+. The only way to know for sure is to get tested, and many places just need a swab – no blood necessary! Remember that getting tested means checking in to see if you’ve been doing a good job; testing doesn’t prevent the disease from happening. The Damien Center has free and confidential HIV, STD, and pregnancy testing. (www.damien.org)
4. Get involved. There’s dozens of events each year that you can participate in to raise awareness – and many are listed in your local community calendars! Some events, like Dining Out for Life, make it easy to participate. Many local businesses, like Just Pop In located in Broad Ripple and the airport, donate proceeds from sales year-round to local HIV/AIDS service organizations. (Just Pop In is helping The Damien Center get to zero on December 1 – check it out at justpopinonline.com!)
5. Educate yourself. Talk to your doctor or a local HIV/AIDS service organization to learn more about the disease. Know that it’s not transmitted through casual contact like hugging or coughing, but rather through an exchange of body fluids like semen, blood, vaginal fluid, or breast milk. Go to AIDS.gov for easy HIV basics!
6. Drink in moderation. Consuming alcohol can impair your judgment, leading to unsafe sex or other decisions you might not normally make. Have fun, but always keep a clear mind!
7. If you’re HIV+, be sure to take your medications on-time every time. This helps reduce the amount of virus in your body, which also lowers the chances you’ll transmit HIV. Just remember that you can still transmit HIV to your partner even if you have a low viral load – so always use a condom.
8. Volunteer. It’s one of the best ways to see the impact you’re making in the lives of people infected or affected by the disease. Most HIV/AIDS service organizations couldn’t survive without the help of generous volunteers!
9. Donate. Volunteering goes a long way toward helping people, but monetary contributions are essential. With funders cutting back on their grant money due to the recession, nonprofits helping HIV/AIDS patients are relying on individual contributions more than ever.
10. Spread the word. Educating a friend about HIV/AIDS could save their life – and you might never know it. Even a simple Facebook status or tweet about wearing a condom or getting tested helps raise awareness. Connect with organizations like The Damien Center on Facebook or through Twitter @damiencenter for ways you can help spread the word and get Indiana down to zero!

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!

Pregnancy Testing

We are proud to announce that we are offering free pregnancy testing!

Pregnancy testing is another essential addition to our repertoire. We currently offer free HIV, syphilis, Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis.

Our Joseph F. Miller Testing Center is open:

• Monday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
• Tuesday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm
• Wednesday 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
• Thursday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm
• Friday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm

The Joseph F. Miller Testing Center is located on-site at:

26 N. Arsenal Ave

Indianapolis, IN 46201