A Day in the Life of AIDS Action Committee
The money raised each year by AIDS Walk Boston supports a diverse and far-reaching range of programs and services. Here’s a snapshot of a typical day at AIDS Action Committee, to show the many ways AAC provides care for over 2,500 clients and reaches out to thousands of others in the community.
9:15 a.m. A client’s neighbors have become violent and threatening because of his perceived sexual orientation, and extreme anxiety is affecting his health. His client advocate and the Rental Start-Up Program Coordinator begin the process of finding him a new apartment and providing first and last months’ rental costs, to ensure his safety.
10:00 a.m. Through the Maria Talks website, the Massachusetts Sexual Health Helpline team gets an email from a teen seeking advice on how to deal with peer pressure about sex.
10:35 a.m. The transportation coordinator arranges a ride to a doctor’s appointment for a client – one of 30 requests fulfilled every month.
11:20 a.m. Legal services advises a public safety official with on-the-job exposure to HIV about privacy and confidentiality protections, allowing him to receive benefits without compromising his protected health information. Approximately 15 new clients contact legal services each week, with issues as wide-ranging as housing law, family law and wills and trusts.
12:15 p.m. The AIDS Action website receives its 20,000th visitor this month, half of whom use the site to access HIV health information.
1:00 p.m. The HIV Hotline receives a call from someone looking for HIV testing locations, one of 250 calls this week with questions about sexual health.
2:20 p.m. Two HIV-positive PERY (Positive Educators Reaching Youth) speakers talk to a high school class about the realities of living with HIV.
3:40 p.m. A low-income client receives a voucher she can use for clothing at Boomerangs, AIDS Action’s resale store.
5:00 p.m. One of the MALE Center’s HIV testing counselors administers a free rapid HIV test, one of more than 800 free rapid HIV tests administered in the last year.
6:00 p.m. The peer services coordinator welcomes the Whole Health Support Group and a physician guest speaker for dinner and a discussion of how HIV affects the brain.
7:25 p.m. A Check-In volunteer makes one of her weekly calls to an HIV-positive phone buddy, offering a person to talk to and vital information on health or services.
8:30 p.m. The committee for the Bayard Rustin Community Breakfast, which recognizes the work of LGBT people of color in the fight against AIDS, meets to continue planning the 20th annual event in May.
1:50 a.m. The MALE Center’s USE ME Boys outreach team heads home after an evening of handing out condoms and prevention information to patrons at a local gay bar. In the last year alone, the USE ME boys distributed 130,000 free condoms.
Through legal support, mental health counseling, housing and rental assistance, education, transportation services, peer advocacy, prevention and outreach and support groups, the staff and volunteers at AIDS Action strive to make a difference in as many ways as possible.
Read this, and more articles, in the Spring 2009 issue of Update, AIDS Action’s newsletter.
