Tag Archives: AIDS

Camp to become AHF Texas regional director

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Bret Camp in the Bret Camp Dental Suite at Nelson-Tebedo Clinic

Bret Camp is leaving Resource Center Dallas to become Texas regional director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

“I will dearly miss Resource Center,” he said. “It’s meant a lot to me over the last 17 years.”

Last year, Camp left RCD to deal with B-cell lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer. After more than six months of treatment, he returned to work with a clean bill of health as the center’s health services director.

During his absence, a new dental suite was outfitted and named for him at Nelson-Tebedo Clinic on Cedar Springs Road.

Last month, AHF opened its first Texas clinic at AIDS Outreach Center in Fort Worth. Camp will work out of the office at Medical City Dallas where a second area clinic is planned. The nonprofit organization is looking to expand into Austin and San Antonio and possibly Houston in the near future.

Camp said what attracted him to AHF was how client-centered the agency is.

“AHF provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay,” he said.

AHF is expected to open a clinic at Medical City to serve a Far North Dallas area that currently has no AIDS services and is one of the city’s hard hit areas with new cases of HIV.

 

—  David Taffet

Grand opening today for Magic Johnson Clinic at FW’s AIDS Outreach Center

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Executive Director Allan Gould at AOC

AIDS Outreach Center, Tarrant County’s largest AIDS services provider, will host a grand opening for its new Magic Johnson Clinic at 6 p.m. today.

The clinic is at AOC’s office at 400 N. Beach St. in Fort Worth. Also opening is a new pharmacy to provide medications needed by clients.

AOC partnered with Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation to open the clinic. AHF is the largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the U.S. They operate 10 clinics in California, six in Florida, two in Washington, D.C., and one in Georgia. This is the first in Texas and the sixth designated as a “Magic Johnson” center.

AHC’s Condom Nation 18-wheeler has been in the DFW area through the weekend providing HIV testing and distributing condoms. It will also be at the opening this evening.

—  David Taffet

GIVEAWAY: Elton John’s new book “Love is the Cure”

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Earlier this week, singer Elton John released his book Love is the Cure: On Life, Loss and the End of AIDS. In it, John recounts his own life and career during the height of the AIDS crisis and how the death of Ryan White both devastated and charged the singer to take a stand against the epidemic. This led to the creation of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

“This is a disease that must be cured not by a miraculous vaccine, but by changing hearts and minds, and through a collective effort to break down social barriers and to build bridges of compassion. Why are we not doing more? This is a question I have thought deeply about, and wish to answer-and help to change-by writing this book,” John wrote.

We have two copies of Love to giveaway. How do you get one? We want to know what you would ask Elton John if you had five minutes to chat with him? Whether about his career, his advocacy or even his fun feud with Madonna, what would you want to know about the legendary gay icon? Send your questions to me here with “I Want Elton” in the subject line and winners will be selected on Monday. That gives you the whole weekend to think about it.

Good luck!

 

—  Rich Lopez

Pekers donates 6,000 bottles of water to AIN

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Frank Holland

Frank Holland and Ron Nelson, owners of Pekers Bar in Oak Lawn, delivered 6,000 bottles of water to AIDS Interfaith Network to help homeless clients of the agency beat the heat, according to a release from AIN. The 200 cases of water will be distributed to AIN clients throughout the summer.

“Our clients don’t worry about electricity bills or air conditioning,” said Travis Gasper, AIN director of development. “They worry about having enough to eat and drink to survive. They will have one less thing to worry about this summer, thanks to the generous folks at Pekers.”

Each year AIN serves 2,000 individuals in North Texas battling HIV/AIDS. Half of them are without stable, permanent housing, leaving them in danger when the mercury rises. Proper hydration is essential to staying on HIV medications, which help prevent the further spread of the disease.

“We remain forever grateful to Pekers for their support,” said AIN Associate Director Edgar Carmona. “Their generosity means those most vulnerable to the heat will be able to stay hydrated and healthy this summer.”

Holland said the donation came from patrons and staff. And why did they help?

“Just because,” Holland said. “It was something that needed to be done.”

Pekers Bar just celebrated its fifth anniversary, and has supported HIV prevention efforts in the community since it opened. In addition to its water donations, Pekers has given more than $100,000 in cash to AIN.

—  David Taffet

USA Film Fest opens with history of AIDS, Q&A

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This week, I reviewed How to Survive a Plague, a fascinating and emotional documentary from journo-turned-filmmaker David France about the early days of the AIDS crisis, especially as it relates to the founding of ACT-UP. The screening kicks off this year’s 42nd annual USA Film Festival.

David France, pictured, will be in attendance, and yours truly will be moderating the question and answer session immediately following it, and bring your questions for David!

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

Today is the 25th anniversary of ACT UP, which was predated in Dallas by activists with G*U*T*S

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Members of ACT UP hung a banner on the Cedar Springs Tollway overpass in 1991 for Pride Week.

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP, turns 25 today. In the early days of the AIDS crisis, the group was known for civil disobedience to obtain funding for research into the epidemic and care for people with the disease. The group was created by playwright and activist Larry Kramer in New York.

In an ACT UP demonstration marking the anniversary today, JoeMyGod reports that nine members chained themselves to the entrance of the New York Stock Exchange at the opening bell.

Dallas had its own version of ACT UP prior to the formation of the national group. The Dallas version was known as G*U*T*S, or Gay Urban Truth Squad.

G*U*T*S staged a number of demonstrations including chalking outlines of bodies in front of Dallas City Hall — and outside the Convention Center as President George H.W. Bush spoke inside. An earlier protest involved staking an empty field on Carlisle Street with crosses honoring the fallen.

Another ACT UP demonstration in front of Parkland Hospital called on the facility to prescribe AZT, the only known drug at the time that helped combat the HIV virus. The hospital claimed it didn’t have enough money to give the drug to everyone who needed it.

In most cities, ACT UP demonstrators and those working with local governments to provide resources for people with AIDS were different people. Not in Dallas.

John Thomas, executive director of the AIDS Resource Center (now Resource Center Dallas), was among the ACT UP demonstrators at Parkland. He met with city and county officials and told them he thought he could call off the demonstrators if money was appropriated to get AZT to people who needed it.

When John got the money, John stopped demonstrating.

Most of the founders of G*U*T*S/ACT UP Dallas, including John Thomas, Bill Hunt, Mike Richards, Bill Nelson and Terry Tebedo, died of AIDS in the 1990s.

This evening, USA Film Festival screens How To Survive A Plague that includes the story of ACT UP. Arnold Wayne Jones moderates a discussion after the film.

—  David Taffet

AIDS funding pioneer Pallotta to speak Friday

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No one disputes that Dan Pallotta was a pioneer in raising awareness about AIDS and HIV, organizing the California AIDSRide from 1992 to 2002, as well as North Texas’ AIDS ride from 1999 to 2001. It was around that time Pallotta started taking flak for not spending resources well; he was roundly criticized for spending $400,000 to raise $1 million, a ratio most contributors to charity found off-balance. But while Pallotta stopped fundraising for those organizations, he didn’t exactly take the criticism lying down. In 2010, he published Uncharitable, a book that argued there are two rules (those for charities, and those for businesses) and that non-profits should be more entrepreneurial in order to be more competitive … and, presumably, bring in more capital. In short, he says the question “What percentage of my contribution goes to charity?” is outmoded thinking. He’s speaking about this divisive issue at Dallas Social Venture Partners’ Social Innovation Luncheon Series, which will be held at the Tower Club inside Thanksgiving Tower on Friday, April 13. The lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. Tickets cost $50 and can be purchased at DSVP.org.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

National Association of People with AIDS brings Healthy Living Conference to Fort Worth this week

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The National Association of People with AIDS holds its national Healthy Living Summit, previously known as “Staying Alive,” from Tuesday, April 10 through Friday, April 13 at the American Airlines Training and Conference Center in Fort Worth.

The conference empowers those living with HIV to become better advocates for their own health and for that of the entire community. Founded in 1983, NAPWA is the oldest national AIDS advocacy organization in the U.S.

“HIV rates are exploding in the Southern United States,” NAPWA President and CEO Frank Oldham Jr. said in a press release. “As the largest and oldest patient advocacy group for PLWHA, NAPWA is proud to have the opportunity to bring the National Healthy Living Summit to the heart of the South to educate about the steps that can be taken to reduce transmission of the virus and promote healthier living with HIV.”

The National Healthy Living Summit will help promote interventions for the HIV epidemic, with a unique lineup of speakers, including leading medical experts who will share the latest on Treatment as Prevention, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Hepatitis and HIV Co-Infection, and more.

The cost of the conference is $525, which includes hotel, meals, NAPWA membership and the conference. To register, visit the NAPWA website. A full list of speakers and award recipients is below.

Continue reading “National Association of People with AIDS brings Healthy Living Conference to Fort Worth this week” »

—  David Taffet

Woman, 71, arrested for anti-gay hate crime

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Wanda Derby

A 71-year-old woman is facing hate crime charges after she allegedly beat and choked her neighbor with her cane, called him a “faggot” and said she thought he had AIDS and would give it to her son, officials said.

Wanda Derby and her son were “having issues” when he decided to move in with the family next door Wednesday night in the 3200 block of Ash Park in Richland Hills, Detective Tye Bell with Richland Hills police said.

When a 25-year-old neighbor came over to help her son move, Bell said she allegedly struck him several times and choked him.

“I guess she got enraged and she just started whooping him with a cane,” Bell said.

Bell said the man suffered bruises to his body and neck but was treated at the scene by Richland Hills police.

Derby allegedly struck the man’s mother when she came to help him and tried to call police. Bell said the man did not fight Derby because she is 71 and he did not want to harm her.

She was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon that could be enhanced as a hate crime because she called the man “faggot” several times when talking to police and told them that he had AIDS and would give it to her son, Bell said.

“Her statements were very biased toward sexual preference and that gave us the probable cause to file that as a hate crime,” Bell said.

Continue reading “Woman, 71, arrested for anti-gay hate crime” »

—  Anna Waugh

Dallas Purple Party recruiting volunteers for its May event at Saturday mixer

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The Dallas Purple Party, an annual fundraiser for AIDS Services of Dallas now in its 12th year, will hold a volunteer drive … er, reception … at Sue Ellen’s on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. Executive director Blake Baker will give a primer to those who want to help put on the party, which takes place at a variety of venues across Dallas the weekend of May 4–6.

The all-volunteer Purple Party Foundation needs all kinds of assistance in putting on the event, from those who can help set up and decorate in the daytime hours to those who can assist with the after-hours events to those helping with clean-up. They even need folks to man their booth at the Easter in Lee Park Festival on April 8 and at the Cedar Springs Arts Festival the Saturday before the event.

“Last year, we had 70 volunteers, which was a lot — the most we’ve ever had — but we could still use more,” says executive board member Chris Huffstutler.

If you can’t make the mixer at Sue Ellen’s, visit PurpleFoundation.org to learn more or sign up for shifts at your convenience.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones