DMC Staff Comment in Inquirer Article

HIV risk higher for teens who had syphilis, gonorrhea

Dr. Jill Foster, Director of the DMC, was asked to comment for a 4/7/2011 Philadelphia Inquirer article on the link between HIV and rates of STDS, specifically gonorrhea and syphilis. In her discussion, she talked about teens feeling that they can judge their HIV risk merely by looking at someone and that there is still significant stigma around an HIV diagnosis.
This article was written as the city rolls out a new campaign to combat the unacceptably high rates of youth STDs, with Philadelphia "achieving" number 1 status in the country for youth STD's. There's a second Inquirer article on this in today's paper. Part of this campaign is free distribution of the new Philadelphia Freedom condom (pictured above), more information at takecontrolphilly.com. From this website, teens can get apps for mobile phones to help them locate sites to get free condoms and can mail order free condoms. St. Chris' Adolescent Clinic (right upstairs from the DMC) is one of the sites for condom distribution and the DMC will soon be a site.

Institute of Medicine Report Highlights LGBT Health Issues

The Institute of Medicine released a report, The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People today. This report was commissioned by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) so that a research agenda can be formulated to ensure that the health needs of LGBT people can be met. This is a very important development for the LGBT community because in order for health needs to be addressed, there needs to be more formal study.
This development is comparable to the movement in this country over the last few decades to ensure that women and ethnic minorities health needs were addressed separately. For years, the "standard" patient in medical research was the 60 kilogram white male. All drug development, disease progression, epidemiology, etc. used this standard patient rather than considering the unique needs of different populations. This report is an important move towards considering the unique health needs of LGBT individuals.
Highlights from the report summary are: 1) Attention needs to be focused on the chronic stress that may accompany stigmatization 2) Health status needs to be examined through the lifetime, including unique issues of adolescence (including the potential for increased rates of depression, suicide, and substance abuse), adulthood (the potential increased rates of obesity and breast cancer among lesbians), and the elder years and 3) that study needs to be made of health issues LGBT sub-populations, especially the disparately high rate of HIV among gay, bisexual, and transgender minority men.
Staff at the Dorothy Mann Center are reviewing this report in full as we continue to plan our agenda for exploring issues of the youth we serve.

Rapid Testing Team's Efforts Featured on AHRQ's Website

Our Rapid Testing Team has been featured on the US Department of Health and Human Service AHRQ's (Agency for Healthcare Research Quality) Innovations Exchange page for a couple of years now, but in the March 13, 2011 issue of their e-newsletter, we're one of the featured innovations. Congratulations go to Theresa Parrino for her innovations in starting this program, Barbara Bungy for her dynamic leadership of the team and to the testers: Marie Spence, Tira Faison, Andrea Johnson, and Joel Diaz. Keep up the good work.

We're Reviving Our Blog

After a bit of a hiatus, the the Dorothy Mann Center's blog is up again. Stay tuned for lots of good stuff, especially with the one year anniversary of our re-naming coming up in mid-April.

Announcement: We're Changing Our Name

As of this week, we will now be the Dorothy Mann Center for Pediatric and Adolescent HIV. Formal announcements will be made at the Family Planning Council's Annual Luncheon to be held on Wednesday, April 21st and at the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office (AACO)'s Executive Director's Meeting tomorrow. There's a lovely article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Dorothy to learn more about her. What's not mentioned in this article is how instrumental Dorothy was in ensuring the inclusion of dedicated funding for women and children in the Ryan White CARE Act (Part D). We are thrilled that Dorothy is lending us her name for our center.

Collaborator of the Week: The Village

The Village of Arts and Humanities (The Village) is a multifaceted arts organization dedicated to community revitalization through the arts. The need for a new urban landscape in 1986, spawned the Village of North Philadelphia. Started originally as a small neighborhood park project, it has grown to offer a menu of services including: the Village Arts Challenge, Teen Leadership Corps, and an annual theater production. They have a great website, so check it out for more information and a schedule of upcoming events.
We had the good fortune to be able to go there this week to do an educational presentation on HIV. The teens had a great conversation with our staff about whether or not someone with HIV should disclose their status to their partner. Become a fan of theirs on Facebook.

Please vote for us to continue our GED/Literacy Program

This year we have been able to fund an informal program to provide homework tutoring and prep for taking a GED course for our teens. Our part-time tutor, Ritz Alvarez, is leaving for a Pediatrics Residency, but we would like to continue the program. Voting for this program through Pepsi would provide us with enough funds to hire a part-time teach and instructional materials.
Many of the teens in our program need an educational boost before they are ready to start a GED program, so this this program provides individualized learning plans to help them prepare and to build confidence.