Written By Gina Quattrochi
CEO, Bailey House
Member of Steering Committee, “30 for 30″
Board Member, NAHC

Two weeks ago President Obama issued a resolution establishing the first federal agency “Working Group on the Intersection of HIV/AIDS, Violence Against Women and Girls, and Gender and Health Disparities”. The Administration’s action comes at the time when research shows increasing evidence that HIV incidence among women, which is growing in many parts of the nation, particularly the South, at alarming rates, often results from factors, which until recently were not addressed in traditional HIV prevention programs. Clearly we need to do better to stop the epidemic from affecting yet another generation of women.

Let’s look at HIV prevention up to now – one of the most common strategies is to encourage the use of condoms and other types of safer sex. The reality is that women and girls who are victims of intimate partner violence have little or no ability to protect themselves in any way. Even worse is that sex is often the way they are humiliated and injured. Why then have we been arming them with information about safer sex and coaching them to insist that male partners use a condom? The most obvious answer is that violence of any kind was not in the past associated with HIV incidence. Neither was homelessness, poverty, healthcare disparities and other things that we now know are the key drivers. So how does HIV prevention have to change to address these realities? What are your thoughts?

The fate of Bob Crachit and his family is much different.  Bob, his wife, and his youngest son Tiny Tim, also have an HIV diagnosis, but with no stable housing and healthcare, the Cratchit family’s future is uncertain.  Now facing eviction, doctors fear that the stress from one more trauma will kill Tiny Tim.  Stable housing is healthcare and without it, Tiny Tim will not take his meds or show up for his doctor’s appointments. Scrooge doesn’t care and neither do many others.

The Ghost of Holiday Past paid Scrooge a visit to remind him of how he felt when he was first diagnosed. Fear. Stigma. Despair.  Tears ran down his face as he remembered all of the funerals he attended.  He could hardly call out their names as their spirits appeared alongside the Ghost of Holiday Past.  “If you had helped them when they were sick they might have been here to spend the holidays with your sorry self.”

Suddenly Scrooge found himself looking at 1000’s of women and men, looking sick and haggard, waiting in line at a NYC government office. “That’s the office where poor, homeless people with AIDS go for housing.” said the Ghost of Holiday Present. “But how can there be so many?!” screamed Scrooge.  “36,537 as of November 2009 and that does not include the HIV infected homeless. New York City only allows emergency housing to those with an AIDS diagnosis.   “What do you want me to do?” pleads Scrooge wearily.

In front of Reddens Funeral home on 14 ^th Street, where countless HIV/AIDS funerals have taken place since the beginning of the epidemic, Scrooge sees a casket in an empty room. “Whose funeral is that?” asks Scrooge. The Ghost of Holiday Yet to Be responds glumly, “Yours. You died 10 years after Bob, his wife and Tiny Tim.”  “But how did they die before me? Tiny Tim was just a kid.” “They lost their housing right after the holiday of 2009. They asked you for help but you refused. You said you were playing it safe to see how the market did in 2010.”

Scrooge howled in horror.

“I can’t believe I let Tiny Tim die.

What can I do?!”

Maybe Scrooge isn’t the only person asking that question this holiday season.  Come over to 180 Christopher Street or 1751 Park Ave and our countless apartment houses throughout NYC and see HIV/AIDS infected single people, couples and families living in places that look nice …. peaceful.  We might not be able to bring back Tiny Tim, but we can make sure the next young man living with HIV/AIDS gets off the street and into the Bailey House STARZ Program.  We can make sure Bailey House’s Street Pantry brings food to where homeless HIV infected people need it most. You can help underwrite a Bailey House family for a day, week, month or a year so that what happened to Bob Crattchit and his family never happens to another family living with HIV/AIDS in our City again.

Make a Donation. Make a Difference.

Bingo. Reality talks and the pundit’s voices fade into the background. Maybe they should do a show from Park/121^st. Lucky for Ms. Pamela, she qualifies for Medicaid. Now that may not seem like a lucky thing to most people these days.  If you lose your job and are not entitled to programs like the NYS ADAP program, which provide medical insurance coverage for those living with HIV/AIDS who are not Medicaid eligible, you are OUT OF LUCK.

We think healthcare insurance needs to be reformed to give everyone coverage so we can all get the care we need. We see firsthand how good healthcare helps people live longer, even with diseases like AIDS, viral hepatitis and many types of cancer. We urge all of you to get up to speed on Healthcare Reform so if you are standing on line at Whole Foods or hanging out at Lenox Lounge, you can counter claims that all of this effort is aimed at getting rid of the Baby Boomer generation a decade or so early.  One source is www.healthcare09.org.  BTW, we are in the process of helping Ms. Pamela and she did leave here with a bag of groceries from our incredible food pantry. Sometimes, it’s that simple.

Last week, as we were talking with clients, we all realized that the thing we liked best about the new office is that we have more space to just get together.  Clients can come in and have a healthy breakfast in the morning, read the paper, watch TV and guess what …. NOT SWIPE.  Then, they may attend one of the morning groups that run 5 days a week around topics ranging from recovery to creative expression and guess what ….. NOT SWIPE.   After that, there are other groups focused on getting healthy, independent living skills and guess what …. THEY DO NOT SWIPE.  They shared that at other agencies (don’t worry we won’t reveal those names!) they are always swiping.  One man even claimed he has to swipe to go to the bathroom.  He laughed when we all believed him.  We like that we don’t have to ask people to swipe all the time.  Clients like that they can come in and just be.  It helps them feel human. It helps us feel more human too. It helps them feel they are more than their disease.  It makes us feel hopeful.  We so love this antidote to all of the “swiping” that all of us have to do that we have created the “Just Come In and Be Among Neighbors and Friends Program. No Swiping Necessary.”

Today many believe that HIV stigma has been eradicated. I am not sure I agree. But more about that later. I loved Tom from the first minute I met him. He was big and Irish and he bear hugged me and called me “honey” and he was the first openly gay, openly HIV positive legislator in the nation. He was alright by me. And he loved Jones Beach and Field 6. We were a match made in heaven! After Tom was elected to the Senate, his office moved and I missed running into him on my way to the hallway bathroom. It’s those times when you really get to know people because you talk about the real stuff … politics, family, kids, life, and death. Tom saw my daughter grow up and when he met me, I was pregnant with my son. Now my daughter is almost twenty and the son I gave birth to back then is almost 15.

Bailey House is older too and so is our relationship with Tom. That’s why we have been really proud of his leadership over the years on behalf of homeless people living with HIV/AIDS. Tom has been fiercely out front on the floor of the Senate and elsewhere on issues like “HASA for ALL”, a campaign that seeks to put a legislative cap on the percentage of income homeless men and women living with AIDS have to pay towards their rent in housing programs subsidized by NYS and NYC. A couple of weeks ago, Tom gave an extemporaneous speech on the floor of the NYS Senate about this issue that rocked the house and made its way to You Tube and around the world. Tom’s our hero and we hope after seeing this video, he’s yours too!

If you would like more information about this campaign go to www.nycahn.org. For information about how housing is HIV prevention go to
www.nationalaidshousing.org. Let us know what you would like to hear about ……