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.

25 Stories: World AIDS Day

If Dr. Woody Myers could ask HIV one thing, it would be this: “Let us into your secrets.” For Myers, as for many other who work in the HIV/AIDS field, HIV’s 31 years have been full of mysteries alongside triumphs, setbacks alongside progress. As former health commissioner of the state of Indiana, Myers has seen firsthand the ebb and flow of the epidemic as it has made its way around Indiana and the United States and across the globe.


Tomorrow is World AIDS Day, a day for people from all corners of the world to come together in fighting against HIV, show support those living with HIV, and honor those we’ve lost to this disease. People like Dr. Myers have been doing this for a long, long time. So how far have we come in 31 years? “You don’t have to die from it anymore,” says Meyers. “And that means if you have it, you can extend your life to almost normal by taking your medication and doing good healthy things. It’s not the death sentence that it used to be.”

Nevertheless, Myers shares cautionary words about the state of HIV/AIDS in other parts of the world. “It’s still a major, major public health issue and problem around the world,” he explains. “Although we’ve kind of got our arms around it, so to speak, in the United States, that’s not the case in many other countries, where the battle is far more difficult.” In Mozambique, for example, Myers estimates that only a third to half of HIV+ individuals are being treated and that roughly a third of the adult population is HIV+. “We still have a lot that we need to do and a lot that we need to learn,” he says, “but we’re making progress.”

And some of that progress, he reminds us, is in the form of research being done on HIV and other viruses that work in fascinating and often puzzling ways to interact with human cells. Myers anticipates that treatments like pre-exposure prophylaxis or even a cure or vaccine for HIV are the next wave of development. “The research on HIV has led us to a lot of interesting conclusions and new ideas as a result of understanding much more about how viruses interact with people,” he explains. “It’s also giving us new avenues to attack. The drugs that have been created and the methods used to fight HIV are going to be applicable to other diseases as well. And even though we don’t have a vaccine yet for HIV, we are finding ways to develop vaccines for a lot of other diseases that are viral. So it’s paying off in a lot of other ways.”

This World AIDS Day, we hope you’ll take a moment to think about and act on how you can continue fighting or join the fight against HIV and support those in your life, community, or world who are living with it. Here at The Damien Center, we focus on doing those things right here in Central Indiana, and we invite you to join us. You can read more about what we're doing to carry out our vision for an AIDS-free generation on our website, or find out more about World AIDS Day on aids.gov.

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!