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: Losing a Buddy

A few weeks ago, you read about the beginning of Mark Lee’s journey to becoming an AIDS activist (the part where he visits a gay bar for the first time and realizes he has to take action), but it didn’t stop there. A few years after his unexpected introduction to what AIDS is and how he could help, Mark got involved with The Damien Center’s Buddy Support Program through Howard Warren, an HIV+ pastor at his church. Mark was one of the Center’s original buddies when he joined in 1987.

The program, according to Mark, was designed so that two people would be assigned to each person with HIV to serve as a support system for whatever was needed. “Our job was just to help them,” Mark explains. And help they did—with anything. It was the buddies’ job to help with transitioning to an HIV+ lifestyle, taking medications, advocating at doctor appointments, or even planning for their funerals. “Ideally you wanted to become a friend with them first, but a lot of times people didn’t have time for that,” Mark says. “They were thrown into dealing with hospitals who didn’t want to deal at all with people with AIDS and were being discriminatory, or with family members.”

Mark’s first buddy through the program was Bob, one of the last surviving members of the original group of People with AIDS. Though their relationship got off to a rocky start—Bob was wary of the program and Mark had recently lost a dear friend to AIDS—they ended up becoming close. “He was my best friend,” Mark recalls. Bob was tough, determined to live on in the face of HIV. Though the survival rate at the time was only six months to two years, Bob had already lived three years with the disease when he and Mark met, and he would live for another three after that.

But for Mark, his friendship with Bob became a source of guilt. He would go to Buddy Support Program meetings at The Damien Center each week and feel guilty because his buddy was in good health while others were struggling with ill health, or worse, with the death of their buddy. “I told them one time I felt guilty, because all we did was laugh and have a good time, and not really anything as far as helping him with doctors or anything like that,” Mark explains. “Then someone pointed out—that’s actually how it’s supposed to work. You develop this friendship, this trust between you, so that when he does need you, then you’ve already established that friendship, and he’s able to lean on you, and you can help him out with whatever he needs.” And that’s exactly how it panned out for Mark and Bob. When Bob eventually lost his eyesight and wasn’t as healthy as he had once been, Mark helped him through the last few months of his life.

Today, though the Buddy Support Program no longer exists, The Damien Center offers support to HIV+ individuals in the form of Care Coordination services. Highly trained Care Coordinators work with our clients to connect them with all the resources they need to life healthy lives and move forward each day with dignity. Stable housing, medical care, insurance, nutritional needs, counseling—clients and Care Coordinators work together to determine what the individual needs to be healthy and happy. Losing Bob was painful for Mark, but because of important support mechanisms like the Buddy Support Program and Care Coordination, those living with HIV can find the resources and relationships they need at The Damien Center.

Take a walk with us!

What's better than a stroll through a historic Indianapolis neighborhood on a beautiful fall evening with good friends? Doing all that while supporting the Indiana AIDS Fund, we think! Join our 2012 Indiana AIDS Walk team for a "Walk Around the Block, where we'll walk roughly one-mile through historic Herron Morton Place.

Entertainment, food trucks, and activities along the route plus a wellness fair and awards make this a can't-miss event that supports the Gregory R. Powers Direct Emergency Financial Assistance (DEFA) Fund and benefits The Damien Center's clients. This a family friendly event, so bring your kids, cousins, grandparents, friends, and more - you can even bring your pets and their friends.

By walking with us and raising money through family, friends, co-workers, employers and others, you're helping provide funds for emergency shelter, utilities, food, medicine, transportation and other critical needs of those living with HIV/AIDS.

Here's the schedule:

Saturday, September 29, 2012
3:30 pm - Registration opens at 16th and Alabama Street
3:45pm - Live entertainment
4:30pm - Welcome and awards
5 pm - Step-off at 16th and Alabama

Immediately after the Walk, Greg's Our Place will be hosting a BBQ Party on the patio! The first 200 walkers (21 and up) get in free.

Location: Herron Morton Place

Register at IndianaAIDSwalk.org

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.

25 Stories: Bullwinkle's and GRID - Learning About AIDS in 1982

When Mark Lee, a young IU Hoosier with a painfully shy disposition, mustered up the courage to sneak into Bullwinkle’s one fateful evening in 1982, he had no idea his world would be turned upside down. Anxious about being carded and uncertain whether or where he belonged on the disco dance floor at one of Bloomington’s mainstay bars for the gay community, Mark turned to a publications rack for comfort and picked up the first thing he could find.

Skimming through an arbitrary publication, only half-focused on its contents, Mark’s eyes fell on an article about GRID (Gay-related immunodeficiency), a disease that would capture his attention for many years to come. Gay-related immunodeficiency, an early term for AIDS, was taking the gay community by storm, but fear was spreading just as quickly.

“No one knew where it was coming from,” Mark recalls. “They just knew that gay men in New York and San Francisco were dying of this horrible disease and that they were dying within six months of being diagnosed.”

For Mark, it was a wake-up call. Besides being his “first real experience in a gay bar or anything in the gay community,” Mark was drawn in by what he could do to keep himself safe in the midst of a national crisis. “I did a lot of reading,” he says. “I read everything I could on it: signs you might be positive, how to take care of yourself, anything.”

According to Mark, he came out just as the gay community was making a major shift. On the one hand, an era of promiscuity, bath houses, and anonymous sex was ending, while AIDS was only just beginning. “People started dying,” Mark says, “and then people started taking notice and taking care of themselves.”

Despite the initial fear and uncertainty, in the 30 years since Mark’s first foray into Bullwinkle’s, he’s become an advocate and activist for HIV/AIDS in too many ways to count. He was one of The Damien Center’s original “buddies,” a role in which he was paired up with HIV+ individuals to build friendships and develop a support system. More on that later. He also went on to work for Indiana Community AIDS Action Network and AIDServe Indiana and continues to support The Damien Center today. Though Bullwinkle’s closed its doors in 2006, the significance of Mark’s work in fighting HIV/AIDS and supporting those affected by it lives on.

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.

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!

United Way Features The Damien Center Success Story!

One of our success stories was recently featured by the United Way of Central Indiana! Read on to rind out more.

United Way of Central Indiana helps people learn more, earn more and lead safe and healthy lives.
 This mission includes support of nearly 100 agencies whose programs contribute to one or more of UWCI’s priority outcomes, including: members of vulnerable populations coping with long-term or chronic diseases receive necessary non-medical support services and income is not a barrier to receiving qualified legal assistance in civil matters. The Damien Center, Inc. contributes to the achievement of these goals through education, counseling and care coordination for individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.  Read how the agency helped one young woman not only cope with her disease, but also escape an abusive relationship, acquire her green card, and obtain employment and safe housing for herself and her children. In 2007, 23-year-old “Elizabeth” was referred to The Damien Center after the birth of her second child.  She had just learned she had contracted HIV from her boyfriend.  She felt lost, frightened and desperate. The father of her children was physically and emotionally abusive, but without legal citizenship, a job, insurance, or any other means of support, she was completely dependent on him. Elizabeth came to the U.S. from Zambia as a teenager on her father’s student visa.  The rest of her family had applied for permanent residency, but due to an error in the paperwork, Elizabeth was never included in that filing.  Now she was an adult and in the country illegally.  Confused, intimidated and more than a little fearful of the immigration process, she didn’t know where to go or how to go about applying for residency on her own.
 When she first met the man who would be the father of her children, she temporarily stopped worrying about her legal status.  However, their relationship soon turned abusive when her partner began to prey on her insecurities and total dependence on him.  The next few years turned a once strong-willed and outspoken young girl into a fearful, obedient woman punished by her boyfriend’s controlling nature and infidelities.  When Elizabeth learned she had HIV she was devastated.  She was terrified of being deported back to Africa where she would likely die and her children would be orphans.  She was determined not to let this happen. At The Damien Center, Elizabeth was enrolled in their Care Coordination program which provides intensive case management for people with HIV/AIDS.  They first helped her obtain rental assistance through HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for People With AIDS) so she could escape the tyranny of her boyfriend.  They also connected her with free legal services to stop his harassment and control over her and her children.  They helped her obtain insurance so she could obtain life-saving medication for her HIV and health care for her children.
 Elizabeth’s care coordinator researched the process of applying for legal citizenship and connected her with another United Way agency, Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, where she received the legal assistance needed to obtain her green card so she could work to support her family.  Her care coordinator referred her to vocational rehabilitation services and provided her with bus passes so she could get to interviews and medical appointments. That frightened young mother is now a legal U.S. resident with two happy children who will never know how hard their mother has worked to provide a good life for them.  Elizabeth has since received her green card, been granted permanent residency status, was approved for an extension of her housing assistance, secured a job, and receives a child care voucher from FSSA. Although hers has been a long journey littered with hardships, Elizabeth credits The Damien Center with giving her hope and confidence in herself.  She now knows she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to.  Elizabeth is a determined, empowered and soon to be fully self-sufficient individual whose life has been greatly impacted by The Damien Center. The Damien Center first received UWCI support through special “venture fund” grants beginning in 1991 until becoming a certified member agency in 1993.  UWCI has invested more than $5 million in the agency’s mission to provide a broad range of services and support to persons affected by HIV/AIDS.  This funding includes more than $1.3 million for capital projects, facilities maintenance and technology needs. (These monies are contributed specifically for such needs and do not come from the annual campaign.)  The agency’s current Community Fund allocation is $57,829. Addressing today's needs. Reducing tomorrow's.Web Site: www.uwci.org

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.