The growing amount of people on ADAP (AIDS Drug Assistance Programs) waiting lists in 10 states will just have to wait a little longer as Heinz Family Philanthropies, Merck & Abbott Labs join efforts with Welvista in providing no-cost HIV medications.  Hopefully more drug companies will step up to the plate and ensure the waiting lists will be completely dissipate, and soon!

For more information, check out Welvista’s website below.

http://www.welvista.org/

This Wednesday, July 28th, CARES of Benton Harbor will be moving to our new location at 185 E. Main Street, Suite 604 in the Vincent Building in downtown Benton Harbor.  Our phone and fax numbers will remain the same.  The Benton Harbor office will be closed Wednesday, July 28th through Friday, July 30th, and re-open at our new location on Monday, August 2nd at 8:30.

Should you have any questions or needs during the closure, please contact the Kalamazoo CARES office at 800-944-2437.

Hey there!

We recently performed a survey for our HIV Counseling, Testing and Referral services between April 1st and June 30th 2010 and I thought I should share the results to you. See, there are many reasons why folks don’t get tested. Some folks are uncomfortable talking about their sexual history, some are afraid to know their status and others have a hard time finding community based organizations that are non-judgmental and accepting of who you are as a sexual being. If the latter is the main reason why you are not getting tested for HIV, here are what our clients said about us. As the statistics/prevention specialist/sexuality educator at CARES, I am proud and geeked-out to say that relative to the over-all number of our quarterly clients (101), we collected a large number of surveys (37)–almost 40% of the pool! Are you ready? Here is goes

• 95% said that they have a better knowledge of HIV after the session
• 98% said that they feel more confident making healthier life decisions after the session
• 97% said that their session was thorough and informative
• 98% said that their counselor addressed any questions or concerns they had during the session
• 98% said that their counselor made them feel at ease talking about their sexual health
• 98% said that their counselor and them discussed plans to reduce their risk that made sense to them

Imagine working for a place with an average rating of 97%. Our staff rocks!

We do the best we can to serve you and we thank you for letting us know that we are responding to your needs. For those who haven’t been tested, try us out. Our HIV test is FREE, CONFIDENTIAL, NON-JUDGMENTAL and our clients love us too

Thanks to all of the staff  for having these surveys filled out! BTW: I will be blogging about the sex behaviors of gay and bi men in the area so watch for it!

Much love from 629 Pioneer!

-Jan-

Who knew SPSS could be this fun?!