Hartford Youth HIV Identification and Linkage Group (HYHIL)

Beer and Wine Tasting Fundraiser in Recognition of World AIDS Day

2011-11-16T12:31:00.001-08:00

Fashion Show!!

2011-09-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

HGLHC's Haunted GayYard Halloween Dance!

2011-09-29T10:58:00.001-07:00

HYHIL Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Month - Virtual Event

2011-03-01T14:19:00.001-08:00

	Tuesday, March 1 at 9:00am - March 31 at 9:00pm

In honor of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on March 10, The Hartford Youth HIV Identification & Linkage Consortia (HYHIL) is declaring March to be Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness month. Every day we will have a different topic honoring Women and Girls Health Care.

Get tested, know your HIV Status: http://www.hivtest.org/ Enter your zip code to find a testing site near you!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198398840187850&ref=ts

HYHIL Event for World AIDS Day

2010-11-01T10:57:00.001-07:00

HIV infections & the law

2010-08-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

Shared from our friend Josh:

Regarding the discussion on non-disclosure of HIV+ status. This is a case from Australia.

Most prosecutions for infections have been in the US and Canada, a trend that drew condemnations in Vienna 2010, but this is an increasing trend. Prosecutions have involved both hetero and MSM.

All of these cases so far involve people intentionally lying about their + status, or tampering with condoms to reduce their effectiveness and increase risk of transmission.

The concerns that have been raised include scaring people from getting tested (ie. if you know you're + and infect someone, you could go to prison). Another issue though is that a court could rule that all unsafe sex carries strict liability. In other words, not knowing your status is not enough of a defense.

In other words, the + partner is responsible for ANY infection resulting from unsafe sex if he knew or "ought to have known" there was a risk of transmission. Just as individuals do not have the right to consent to be stabbed or seriously injured, a court could rule that the right to private, consensual sex (ie. Lawrence v. Texas 2003) does not extend to transmission of a dangerous pathogen.

Taken to its logical conclusion, I fear that these well-intentioned measures aimed at a few reckless, or even callous individuals, could be used by a right-winger on the bench to all but re-criminalize gay sex, or sex between / with HIV+ individuals.

In the end, it proves that each individual must rely on themselves for protection. While trust is great, latex is better.

--Josh

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/man-with-hiv-exposed-others-court-told-20100805-11jv2.html

KiKi Party Photos - June 2010

2010-07-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Don't miss our fabulous HOUSE OF PANDORAH event June 24th!!

2010-06-09T08:55:00.001-07:00

Thank you, Marlyn!

2010-04-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

HYHIL enjoyed its last meeting with CT Children's Medical Center (CCMC) Intern Marlyn Davila on 4/12/10. Her internship at CCMC and HYHIL will be ending within the next few weeks. Thank you to Marlyn for all of your dedication and great work! You will be missed at HYHIL! Come back and see us anytime!

Email from Marlyn:

Hello everyone,

Thank you for coming to the HYHIL meeting today and making me feel part of the group. During meetings I learned from everyone. Thank you for being my teachers and allowing yourself to be my guinea pigs. (Laughing out Loud) Just kidding. I will miss attending our monthly meetings, but I will try really hard to attend future meetings.

I really enjoyed working with everyone. I hope I will have the opportunity to work again with all of you in the future.

Once again thank you for making my experience with HYHIL a great one. I hope everyone will continue to contribute their time and ideas with HYHIL.

Thank you,
Marlyn Davila

don't miss this. it's free, and it's tomorrow-- glamour shots and gift bags for the ladiessss!

2010-04-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

HYHIL Meeting Minutes - March 9, 2010

2010-04-05T13:35:00.001-07:00

HYHIL Meeting Minutes
March 9, 2010; 9:30 AM

Attendees: Drew Needham (HGLHC), Jamie Bassell (HGLHC), Nilda Fernandez (CCMC), Janier Caban (ALN), Karen (ALN), Consuelo (CCMC), Marlyn (Intern @ CCMC), Kurt (Abbott HIV Virology), Danielle Warren-Diaz (CCMC), Myrna (CCMC), Tyrone (CCMC)

Recap of HIP at Hartford Finance and Insurance Academy (HIFA)
• Hartford Finance /Insurance Academy :
o 79 HIV screenings with no positives
o 67 STD screenings with 5 STD positives

• At one point there were 40 students waiting for HIV testing—there were so many students, we ran out of OraSure tests and we ran out of test forms.

• After this particular HIP intervention, two parents with children at the school expressed some concerns. As a result, we will not bring HIP to the Hartford school systems for a while until this is resolved. We will focus on the CREC school base and focus our HIV testing there.

Action Item: Should we add an item to our pre-HIP checklist before we go to do a HIP intervention, ask or remind DPH if the schools send out notification and permission slips?

Healthy Teens Coalition
• An advocacy group that is attempting to mandate inclusive comprehensive sexual education in all schools in CT. HYHIL will connect with the Healthy Teens Coalition to let them know about our data and findings (the “virgin” myth, the STD rates, lack of safer sex knowledge), to further their cause?

HIP Intervention
• It costs $600 to cover the Interactive Theater for each HIP intervention. We have enough funding for 2-3 more presentations at high schools. Nilda is talking with her grant office to see if we can get more funding, seeking funding from Red Ribbon.

Action Item: Suggest to the HIP theater group to address the “virginity” issue that has repeatedly come up among youth: they claim they’re virgins but they have oral sex and anal sex with multiple partners.

Action Item: we will seek funding to do an educational campaign for parents at PTO meetings, similarly to what HYHIL did recently in a Bloomfield PTO meeting. The HIP theater group has a video of their performance, so show a part of their production to parents as a part of a parent education and information campaign.

HYHIL HIP EVENT CALENDAR:
• March 10th: YWCA, the doctor will not be able to speak at Nat’l Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day because of a personal conflict.
• April 6th: maybe Job Corps?
• April 8th: MAYBE – Wilbur Cross HS in New Haven
• April 28th: CREC adults and young adults, 10 am

●Events in the Planning Process
• Polaris Center in East Hartford; the nurse and staff are excited to have HIP there; this is a CREC site.
• Pathways in Manchester: a supervisor there would like the HIP Presentation.
• Maybe for September 2010 HYHIL can get in contact with the school of performing arts and offer a HIP intervention there.

Other Events:
• True Colors Conference: This weekend, Friday & Saturday at UConn in Storrs. Go to Ourtruecolors.org for workshop guides and info. Jamie will bring new reference guides for group
• June 5th: CT Substance Abuse Council (CASAC).
o Hispanic Health Council will be holding an event for women & girls on June 5th
o This event is about being healthy & staying away from drugs & alcohol. They will have food & activities.
o CCMC is involved, Mari & Nilda did a presentation targeting Latinas; they had over 100 women & girls last year.
o Planning meeting is March 18th the CASA office. If you want to volunteer/help out, contact CASAC.
• June 2010: Queer Prom: Jamie will send out an email to HYHIL for volunteers for chaperone sign up & locations
o To do list
 Nilda will try to contact the space @ Hartford Hospital today
 Contact RuPaul to attend/fund our event? DCF dreams come true event; fairy tale conference.
 Ty offered his photography services for the Queer Prom.
• Wednesday March 24th, 2:30 – 6 PM: (event held 3:15-5) [NOTE: THIS WAS POSTPONED UNTIL APRIL 6, 2010] National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
o Event to be held at Salvation Army on Nelson St in North End of Hartford.
o Expecting approximately 35-45 girls and women.
o The event is called Body Beautiful/ Cuerpo Bonito in Spanish.
o We are trying to get goody bags/gift bags for this event, from Victoria’s Secret, etc.
o Salvation Army Learning Center on Nelson St., is willing to supply the food, Community Community Health Centers Association of CT Part D will co-sponsor.
o Still determining if we want to do HIV TESTING at this event. We will need OraSure, paperwork, a private room to do testing in, etc. Karen will speak to Vinny regarding this possibility.

UConn School of Social Work Health Fair (3/3/10): Summary
• Informational brochures & condoms were distributed to both men & women.
• The wheel of choices was used & prizes were given to the winners. The male and female models were used for demonstration.
• Over 30 graduate student received services, everyone that stopped in approached the table. The table was very interactive and attracted a lot of attention.

Action Item: We need outcome numbers. Maybe we should have an aggregate outreach form to use for reporting?

To do list: For Jamie: Send Nilda and Janier the HGLHC outreach aggregate form. We could possibly ask people to do a five-question survey in exchange for a gift bag or other incentives. Or to get a raffle ticket, they must fill out the survey, etc. We will need to keep better track of our events and activities for funding and grant writing purposes.

NEXT HYHIL MEETING: APRIL 12 @ 11 AM @ at 385 Washington Street (Aetna Center/Hart Building).

HYHIL Email Update 3/29/2010

2010-03-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

Greetings All,

I hope everyone is staying dry on this rainy day. This is an email to remind you that our next HYHIL Meeting will be on April 12, 2010 at 11:00 AM at 385 Washington Street, Aetna Center/Hart Building).

I would like to see you all at this meeting because it will be my last HYHIL meeting. The last day of my internship is April 23, 2010.

Once again thank you for your cooperation and/or participation. We really appreciate all of your help.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at davila@uchc.edu>. I look forward to seeing you at our next HYHIL meeting.

Thank you,
Marlyn Davila

The next HYHIL meeting....

2010-03-29T10:18:00.001-07:00

NEXT HYHIL MEETING: APRIL 12 @ 11 AM @ CCMC office

National Women and Girls AIDS Awareness Day

2010-03-12T08:23:00.001-08:00

The Hartford Youth HIV Identification and Linkage Group (HYHIL), Community Health Centers Association of CT and the Salvation Army join forces in honor of....

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day!!!

When: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Time: 3:30 P.M
Place: Salvation Army at 100 Nelson St.

Free food, fun games!

FREE GLAMOUR PHOTOS!

FREE GIFT BAGS!

FREE WORKSHOPS!

Women and girls of all ages are welcome. For more info, call Danielle Warren-Dias at 860-466-9685

Next HYHIL Meeting @ CCMC Office

2010-03-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

The next HYHIL meeting will be on Tuesday, March 9th at 9:30am. See you there!

HYHIL March 2010 Updates

2010-03-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Email from Nilda:

Dear HYHIL Team,

I sincerely want to thank each of you and commend your efforts today at the HIP intervention at the Hartford Insurance and Finance Academy. Crystal, Marlyn, Gail, Danielle, Jamie, Angel, Consuelo, Josh, Ellen, Andre you were phenomenal!

We didn't expect such a huge interest/participation for HIV screening from the students (even if it was only to get out of class for a period or two). In total, we administered 79, yes 79 HIV tests between 10:30am-2:20pm-now that's impressive!

I apologize for the parking issue, if you have your receipt and can not get reimbursed at your agency, please bring me your parking receipt and I'll make sure to get it reimbursed to you.

I received a lot of changes to the HIP calendar today and will send them to you by the end of this week.

It's a true honor to have the opportunity to work with such committed people.

Again, THANK YOU!

-Nilda

Next HYHIL Meeting

2010-01-28T09:09:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Our next HYHIL meeting will be on Monday, February 1, 2010 at 11:30 a.m. at the HYHIL office (385 Washington Street, Aetna Center/Hart Building). Please R.S.V.P. by January 29, 2010. Janier volunteer to bring Bustelo coffee to our next meeting. Lunch will not be provided. Please bring a brown bag lunch or money to order out.

Once again thank you for your cooperation and/or participation. We really appreciate all of your help.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at davila@uchc.edu. I look forward to seeing you at our next HYHIL meeting.

Thank you,
Marlyn Davila

HYHIL HIP Event:

2010-01-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 22, 2010

HYHIL conducted a HIP event at the Opportunity High School in Hartford. Both the students and school administrators and staff thought the intervention was successful.

Approximately 44 students saw the interactive theater presentation. The health screenings were well received. Approximately 30 students were screened for STDs and 16 students for HIV.

Photos from the theater presentation are below:

Next HYHIL Meeting

2009-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

Our next HYHIL meeting will be on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. at the HYHIL office. Please R.S.V.P. by January 11, 2010.

Once again thank you for your cooperation and/or participation. We really appreciate all of your help. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at davila@uchc.edu. I look forward to seeing you at our next HYHIL meeting.

The H.Y.H.I.L Staff would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday!

Thank you,
Marlyn Davila
Community Organizing/HYHIL Intern

Next HYHIL Meeting

2009-11-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

An email from Marlyn Davila, Community Organizing/HYHIL Intern:

"Hello Everyone,

Hope you had a great weekend. Thank you for joining us at the H.Y.H.I.L. breakfast and celebrating our accomplishments this past Friday, November 6, 2009.

We look forward to partnering with you in our efforts to curb the spread of HIV/STDs among youth. Together we can make a difference.

World AIDS Day is soon approaching, and we'd like to know if you are interested in organzing an outreach event. Are you available for a H.Y.H.I.L. meeting on Monday, November 16th at 10:30am? If so, we could meet at 385 Washington Street (our new location) in the Aetna Center for Families building.

Please respond via this email. I look forward to seeing you again.

Thank you,

Marlyn Davila
Community Organizing/HYHIL Intern
Email: davila@uchc.edu "

HYHIL members, please respond to Marlyn's email so we can determine the next date of our meeting! Thanks!

Next HYHIL Meeting: October 23rd

2009-10-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

The next HYHIL meeting is schedudled for Friday, October 23rd from 10:30am 11:30 at the new office for Nilda & Crew :) We are located on the campus of the Learning Cooridor in the Aetna Center for Families area on 385 Washington Street. You may use the parking garage which you may access through Brownell Street. Press the buzzer and inform security you are visiting CCMC Family Support Program.

The Hartford Youth HIV Identification and Linkage Group (HYHIL) 10th Year Anniversary Breakfast

2009-10-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

You and your colleagues are invited to the Hartford Youth HIV Identification and Linkage Group (HYHIL) 10th Year Anniversary Breakfast @ CCMC on November 6th at 9:30am. Learn more about HYHIL, see how you can get involved, and have a delicious breakfast with your peers in health, HIV prevention, youth services, and other related agencies.

Please r.s.vp. to Mari Alvarado at malvarado@uchc.edu or at 860-578-7325.

I look forward to seeing you on the 6th!

HIV hip hop play for youth

2009-09-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

More about HYHIL

2009-09-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Approximately 20,000 new HIV infections occur in youth between 13 and 24 years of age in the United States. Many youth do not know they are infected or receive adequate medical treatment. Many youth with high-risk behaviors are not in schools nor structured programs where they can receive preventive education. Many of these youths confront discrimination, poverty, sexism and homophobia.

HYHIL's mission is to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in adolescents. A network of medical and mental health providers, faith-based agencies, CBOs and youth organizations created HYHIL to conduct outreach and identification of HIV positive youth, providing HIV counseling and testing at risk youth in a friendly way, link HIV positive youth to health care, reduce the transmission of HIV and STDs trough preventive education. We work to advocate for services tailored to teens, look for funding to attempt to close gaps in services that would might cause youth to get lost in the system.

We have learned that to prevent HIV and STDs we needed to go out of the HIV network and involve any organization that works with youth. By collaborating rather than competing, we can use existing resources and provide a greater amount and more effective services to the youth. We can empower the community to advocate for youth services that take into account their needs. In addition, we have learned that by using adolescents as consultants and as aids to provide the services, it keeps us more competent and relevant.

Hartford HIV Identification and Linkage Group History

2009-09-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

In 1999, Hartford-based HIV/STD prevention and treatment service providers, community based health and youth agencies, and local youth began a consortium called the Hartford Youth HIV Identification and Linkage Group (HYHIL). This group was an offspring of the University of Connecticut Health Center and Connecticut Children's Medical center (CCMC/UCHC) Pediatric and Youth HIV program.

The primary goals of HYHIL are:

HIV/STD preventive education to youth in Greater Hartford
To offer youth-centered HIV/STD counseling and testing
The early detection and identification of HIV among youth, and
Linking HIV/STD positive youth into care and case management support.

For over seven years, HYHIL has collaborated in innovative prevention efforts reach out to high-risk youth in the Greater Hartford area. HYHIL is comprised of the following partners:

Charter Oak Health Center
CCMC/UCONN Pediatric and Youth HIV Program
Latino Community Services
Hispanic Health Council
Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective
State of CT Department of Public Health STD Control Program
Community Health Center Association of CT
Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center Adolescent Medical Services

In the Spring of 2007, HYHIL collaborated with health centers based in several Hartford Public Schools to launch a pilot health and wellness program called the Health Interactive Project (HIP) to deliver preventive HIV/STD awareness and education. The HIP program creatively presents important health messages through theatrical presentations to groups of high-risk students in alternative education programs. HYHIL also offers students HIV/STD screenings in the schools at these events. Through this program, we have reached hundreds of students to provide HIV/STD awareness, education, and health screenings. As a result, we found a 10% positivity rate for Chlamydia among the students and our certified HIV counselors identified one HIV-positive student, who was immediately provided counseling and access into the medical care system.