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Michigan News Archives
See also the DHWDC section and
News around the State
December News
HPLS Planning Update
The Michigan host planning committee for next year's HIV Prevention
Leadership Summit (HPLS) - to be held in Detroit in June - met on December 11 in
Detroit. This committee is coordinating some aspects of the national conference,
and has representation from MDCH, the Wayne County Dept. of Public Health and
the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness, as well as many SEM
community-based and HIV/AIDS service organizations.
The Michigan HPLS Planning committee is responsible for lining up volunteers
for the event, planning and organizing a PWA lounge, and sponsoring a Host
Committee event and exhibit booth. The committee will also plan the Summit
Institute, a 3-hour skills building activity.
HPLS, which will be abstract driven, also has Michigan representatives
assigned to each of the seven abstract tracks. MDCH-Division of Health Wellness
and Disease Control (DHWDC) Acting Co-director Debra Szwejda, the liaison to the
national HPLS planning committee, said that while there will not be a priority
given to Michigan abstract submissions, Michigan members of the abstract
committee "will make sure that Michigan (abstract submissions) get a fair
shake."
See the
Call for
Abstracts. The deadline for submission is January 10, 2008. Szwejda
encourages those who have successful prevention programs in Michigan to write
and submit an abstract. Carpe Diem! - take this opportunity of having the Summit
here in our state. Assistance with writing an abstract is available.
The Summit will be held June 11 - 14 at the Detroit Marriott Hotel at
Renaissance Center. If you are planning to attend you can make your reservations
for the hotel now and reference "2008 HPLS."
The next planning meeting will be held on January 22 in Detroit. For more
information on the planning committee or getting assistance writing an abstract,
contact Lisa Taton-Murphy at MDCH-HAPIS (517- 241-5932 or
tatonl@michigan.gov. ) i
MHAC Member,
AIDS Awareness Activist and Poet publishes first
fiction novel
Detroiter, AIDS/HIV activist, and poet Felix Sirls released Switch and Sway,
this month. Although not his first published work, it is his first fiction
novel. The 60-year-old activist has lived with HIV/AIDS since the early 1980s.
-more-
Stacey Barbas Moving to Kresge Foundation
(12-12-07) In an e-mail to colleagues, Stacey Barbas announced that she will
be leaving the Michigan AIDS Fund at the end of the year. Barbas has accepted a
new job at the Kresge Foundation as a program officer. "The last six and a half
years at the Michigan AIDS Fund has been, without a doubt, the most challenging
and rewarding period of my career and I will miss working closely with you," she
stated.
Dave Coulter has been appointed as the Interim Executive Director, Terry Ryan
will continue to direct programs including AmeriCorps and Jerelle Moseley will
continue to operate the Speaker's Bureau.
Awards Given To Expand HIV Testing Opportunities For
Racial And Ethnic Minorities
DHWDC-HAPIS Update November 2007
The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) was awarded
$1,039,923 to support expansion of HIV testing in health care settings to
address racial/ethnic disparities in access to HIV testing, particularly in
African American communities. Grants have been awarded to Advantage Health
Centers of Detroit, Henry Ford Health Systems Emergency Department, Oakland
County Health Division, and Wayne County Jail Health Services.
Funding for these efforts was made available through a grant from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Michigan was one of 23 states
selected by CDC to receive funding to increase HIV testing among populations
disproportionately affected by HIV, primarily African Americans. The main focus
of funding is on making HIV testing a routine part of health care services
provided in community health centers, hospital emergency departments, sexually
transmitted disease clinics and correctional health facilities.
Taking Care of the Uninsured: A Path to Reform
There will be a book Launch/book signing 10 a.m., Friday, December 14
for this just released book by Herbert C. Smitherman, Jr., MD, MPH, FACP,
Assistant Dean, Community and Urban Health, Wayne State University School of
Medicine. Dr. Smitherman was a keynote speaker at Michigan's STD & HIV
Conference in November.
The book signing will be hosted by WSU President Irv Reid and held at WSU in the
Spencer Partrich Auditorium at the Law School, 471 West Palmer. See the
flyer invitation. For your reference,
a link to WSU campus map:
http://www.campusmap.wayne.edu/location/LAW .
Parking can be arranged in Structure 1, immediately north of the Law School on
Palmer Street
http://www.campusmap.wayne.edu/location/parking1.
MAF Releases Report Card for MI at Gala Event - See
Fall Archives
Around the State
Request for Proposal for Ryan White Treatment
Modernization in The Detroit Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA)
(12/17/07)
The City of Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion (DHWP) –
HIV/AIDS Programs is issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Ryan White
HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act Part A requirements for the purpose of
enhancing access to a comprehensive continuum of high quality, community-based
care for low-income individuals and families with HIV. Funding for FY 2008 will
be an open bid, competitive process to address service delivery from March 1,
2008 through February 28, 2009. See Care News.
WAGS CLIENTS GET LOVE &
MORE FOR THEIR
COMPANION ANIMALS
MAPP Release (12/5/07)
For the past ten years, WAGS (Wonderful Animals Giving Support) has provided
pet food, reduced cost veterinary care, and other materials and services to
people living with HIV/AIDS in the metro Detroit area to help care for their
pets. This year again, more than a half ton of doggie treats, cat toys, pet food
and other supplies are being distributed in December to the eighty clients
served by the agency.
WAGS is a program of the Midwest AIDS Prevention
Project (MAPP) and relies solely on donations and support from the community. It
serves clients with low or no income in Southeast Michigan. The pet food and
supplies are donated by companies and stores, and WAGS volunteers package and
arrange for distribution during December at the MAPP in Ferndale.
Medical research studies show evidence of the
benefits of the affection, warmth, and companionship by pets to people suffering
health problems. “Pets are part of the family”, said Jihannh Jones, WAGS
coordinator. “We don’t want to forget them during the holiday season”.
More info: Monica Mills, Jihannh Jones, 248-545-1435
jjones@aidsprevention.org
mmills@aidsprevention.org
Summaries
MHAC
Member, AIDS
Awareness Activist and Poet publishes first fiction novel
Detroiter, AIDS/HIV activist, and poet Felix Sirls released Switch
and Sway, this month. Although not his first published work, it is his first
fiction novel. The 60-year-old activist has lived with HIV/AIDS since the early
1980s.
Switch and Sway is a fictional story about the devastation that HIV can
wreak in lives and relationships. But the story also reveals the emotional
strength and personal victories that can be found when faced with the
difficulties of living with the disease.
Currently a facilitator for Detroit Health Department in the JEMADARI Program
under the Early Intervention and Prevention Programs, Sirls has a unique
perspective on this story, having lived life as a pimp, a poet, a dealer, and a
nurse who worked with some of the original AIDS cases. Sirls even died and was
revived as he struggled to find proper health care for the infection in the
early years.
He is on several committees and boards that deal
with the AIDS community including, the Michigan HIV/AIDS Council (MHAC), the
Southeastern Michigan HIV/AIDS Council (SEMHAC), the PWC, Project Hope, Michigan
Rehab Council & Community outreach workers.
Felix Sirls' new novel is just one more way that he is reaching out to the AIDS
community. He and his wife, Paula Sirls hold speaking engagements on the topic
of living with the HIV/AIDS all over Michigan and surrounding states. They are
inspirational and effective speakers who also hold a weekly support group for
infected Detroiters. Felix and Paula conduct speaking engagements in churches
across the state of Michigan to promote AIDS awareness in the Black community.
They also facilitate group retreats and workshops for people living with
HIV/AIDS and their families.
Along with spreading awareness and focusing on prevention, Felix Sirls hopes to
reduce the stigma for those who do have the infection. With his first fiction
novel, Sirls said, "I wanted to humanize the face of AIDS and HIV. In Switch
and Sway, these are real people, with so-called normal lives and they deal
with the infection in different ways."
Visit www.felixsirls.com for
samples of his other works including poetry and music. Switch and Sway can be
purchased for $14.95 on www.felixsirls.com
, www.amazon.com or
www.niyogroup.com .
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