Posts Tagged ‘Awareness’

COVID-19 Emotional Support Hotline

Thursday, March 26th, 2020

New York State has set up a hotline for residents to talk to someone about mental and emotional health issues during the coronavirus outbreak/pandemic.

Call 1-844-863-9314 any day of the week between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm.

Consumer Advisory Board Meeting Postponed

Tuesday, March 24th, 2020

Our Consumer Advisory Board (HCAB) meeting has been postponed to an undecided date in the summer due to our office closure at this time. We will post more announcements when the meeting is officially rescheduled. HCAB is open to all current and former clients and we welcome them to provide us with feedback on our programs, direction and areas of potential growth.

Due to the current health crisis, the CAB will not have their usual April meeting. As the CAB meetings are very important, and we value your input, HVCS is hoping to hold the next meeting in the summer. We will evaluate the health climate and take the appropriate course at that time.

Sex and COVID-19

Monday, March 23rd, 2020

We thought it important to share a letter from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

All New Yorkers should stay home and minimize contact with others to reduce the spread of COVID-19. But can you have sex?
Here are some tips for how to enjoy sex and to avoid spreading COVID-19.

1. Know how COVID-19 spreads.
You can get COVID-19 from a person who has it.
The virus can spread to people who are within about 6 feet of a person with COVID-19 when that person coughs or sneezes.
The virus can spread through direct contact with their saliva or mucus.
We still have a lot to learn about COVID-19 and sex.
COVID-19 has been found in feces of people who are infected with the virus.
COVID-19 has not yet been found in semen or vaginal fluid.
We know that other coronaviruses do not efficiently transmit through sex.

2. Have sex with people close to you.
You are your safest sex partner. Masturbation will not spread COVID-19, especially if you wash your hands (and any sex toys) with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after sex.
The next safest partner is someone you live with. Having close contact — including sex — with only a small circle of people helps prevent spreading COVID-19.
You should avoid close contact — including sex — with anyone outside your household. If you do have sex with others, have as few partners as possible.
If you usually meet your sex partners online or make a living by having sex, consider taking a break from in-person dates. Video dates, sexting or chat rooms may be options for you.

3. Take care during sex.
Kissing can easily pass COVID-19. Avoid kissing anyone who is not part of your small circle of close contacts.
Rimming (mouth on anus) might spread COVID-19. Virus in feces may enter your mouth.
Condoms and dental dams can reduce contact with saliva or feces, especially during oral or anal sex.
Washing up before and after sex is more important than ever.
Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
The NYC Health Department may change recommendations as the situation evolves. 3.21.20
Wash sex toys with soap and warm water.
Disinfect keyboards and touch screens that you share with others (for video chat, for watching pornography or for anything else).

4. Skip sex if you or your partner is not feeling well.
If you or a partner may have COVID-19, avoid sex and especially kissing.
If you start to feel unwell, you may be about to develop symptoms of COVID-19, which include fever, cough, sore throat or shortness of breath.
If you or your partner has a medical condition that can lead to more severe COVID-19, you may also want to skip sex.
Medical conditions include lung disease, heart disease, diabetes, cancer or a weakened immune system (for example, having unsuppressed HIV and a low CD4 count).

5. Prevent HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancy.
HIV: Condoms, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and having an undetectable viral load all help prevent HIV. For more information, visit nyc.gov/health and search HIV.
Other STIs: Condoms help prevent other STIs. Visit nyc.gov/health and search STIs.
Pregnancy: Make sure you have an effective form of birth control for the coming weeks. Visit nyc.gov/health and search birth control.

For more information about COVID-19, visit nyc.gov/coronavirus.

HVCS’ Response to Coronavirus Pandemic: Office Closures

Friday, March 20th, 2020

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, starting on Monday, March 23, 2020, HVCS will be closing all its offices. Staff will be working from home.

All face-to-face meetings, testing, and support groups are suspended until further notice. Our THRIVES and Emily’s Pantry nutrition education clients will receive, mostly, vouchers to purchase food at local stores.

SEP vans will be operating on a reduced schedule of one day per week. Special arrangements will be made for Rockland County syringe exchange clients who need access to new syringes; we are also beefing up our ESAP program (vouchers for new syringes from pharmacies). We will be using telemedicine services to connect our Health Hub clients with Dr. Gomez for suboxone (buprenorphine) prescriptions.

If you have any critical needs or questions for HVCS, use our online contact form to connect to us.

 

 

HIV+ People & Coronavirus: HVCS’ JanetLynn Remy-Decastro Interview

Thursday, March 19th, 2020

Are HIV-positive people at greater risk for COVID-19? One reporter from Spectrum News asked that question and contacted us for perspective. JanetLynn Remy-Decastro, one of our peers, sat down for a television news interview with reporter Dominic McKenzie. He also talked with Jennifer Deekens, an infectious disease nurse practitioner from Cornerstone Family Healthcare for the medical side of this issue.

Watch the piece here: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/hudson-valley/coronavirus/2020/03/19/are-people-with-hiv-at-great-risk-for-coronavirus#

 

 

 

HVCS’ Response to Coronavirus Crisis

Wednesday, March 18th, 2020

Starting Wednesday, March 18, 2020 we will be operating our offices with smaller staff on duty each day.

Contingency plans also include:

  • For program specific information, guidelines and schedules, please contact your HVCS care/case manager or specialist.
  • All face-to-face meetings with clients are suspended until further notice, and there will be no walk-ins in any office.
  • All groups and educational sessions are suspended until further notice.
  • We will continue to provide regular food pantry bags. Until further notice, clients will need to call ahead to arrange for a food bag pickup. We will post flyers with a number to call on our doors.  Food bags will be left outside of the office door, so there is no physical contact. All food bags will need to be pre-packed (no client choice options). During this time, toiletries may not be available due to supply chain issues. If you are in an emergency situation and need food, bags will be provided outside our office space.

These plans will remain in effect for two weeks (until April 1). During this time we will continually re-evaluate our situation and may need to take further steps if we are required to do so by governmental authorities.

Remember these precautions:

  • Frequent handwashing is your best defense!
  • Practice social distancing: stay 6 feet away from others as much as you can. Greet people with a wave rather than physical contact.
  • Keep spaces clean and disinfected. Light switches and phones should be disinfected too!

More plans and news will be forthcoming as they become available. Stay healthy!

Coronavirus Case in New Rochelle + Comparison to Flu Epidemic

Thursday, March 5th, 2020

We received more Coronavirus information from an official press release from Westchester County. We’re sharing it to ensure we are providing you with relevant, non-repetitive news about the coronavirus.

  • 1 resident of New Rochelle has tested positive for COVID-19 and he is currently in a New York City hospital. Officials are investigating his community contacts and travel patterns.
  • If you have any concerns about COVID-19 please call 211 – they will have the most up-to-date information and they are here for you
    • 8am – 10pm  SEVEN DAYS A WEEK
    • Please call them – use this resource
  • If you think you are symptomatic – DO NOT GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM – YOU MUST CALL AHEAD BEFORE ARRIVAL.
  • 12 residents are currently in voluntary quarantine in their homes.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

AS OF RIGHT NOW – STEPS TAKEN

  • With Coronavirus spreading globally, the CDC has issued travel health notices.  To date, residents should avoid nonessential travel to  China, Iran, Italy and South Korea given the number of cases in these countries.
  • Older residents and those with chronic medical conditions should consider also avoiding travel to Japan.

____________________________________________________________

WHAT CAN YOU/RESIDENTS DO

  • Children are not overtly at risk
  • Stay informed, calm and don’t be alarmed
  • Wash hands -at least 20 seconds with soap and water
  • Stay home when sick
  • Cover your mouth when cough or sneeze  – elbow or tissue
  • Clean with non-green products (i.e. bleach-based) [note: cleaning kits were distributed in our offices to help keep our offices cleaner]
  • Get your flu shot

Some perspective from Cornerstone Family Healthcare’s Dr. Avi Silber, Chief Medical Officer:

It is important to view the Corona Virus in perspective. In the US in the ordinary 2019-2020 flu season so far,

  • 32  million people have had flu illnesses
  • 14 million have had flu medical visits
  • 310,000 people have been hospitalized for the flu
  • 18,000 people have died.

And these numbers are just in the US! Dr. Silber reemphasized the guidance that has already been provided and which is available in the easy-to-read flyers from the CDC. English Spanish

  • Wash your hands and wipe down your work space
  • If you have a fever and a cough, check with your medical provider, especially if you’re in a high risk group (elderly, diabetic, heart or lung disease)
  • Stay home if you’re sick

New Podcast Episode: Community Resources and Stigma-Free Safe Zones

Wednesday, March 4th, 2020

Peer Health Alliance PodcastIn this episode of the PHA (Peer Health Alliance) Podcast we discuss some great stigma-free resources right here in the Hudson Valley. Whether you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community or want to support someone who is. The team talks about a few of the great social, support and medical resources you can access without having to trek down to NYC! Save the tolls, give a listen and learn how to be more connected to the things you need right here in our community!

Listen and subscribe to all episodes on iTunes and Spotify!

HVCS’ Response to the Coronavirus

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020

HVCS management and our entire staff are concerned about the novel Coronavirus and the risk to our clients. According to Dr. Angela Hulse, Medical Director at Cornerstone Family Healthcare (our future merger partner):

“The CDC has stated that people currently at risk for the virus are those that have traveled abroad, and those who have a fever and a cough. Individuals who are healthy [for 14 consecutive] days (the incubation period) post exposure are deemed uninfected. Those most at risk for serious complications from the virus are those who are immunocompromised, the very young and the elderly, and those with chronic medical conditions, including HIV.

Handwashing is the best method to prevent transmission of the virus. Soap and water are preferable to Purell or other hand sanitizers.

If you have a cough or a fever, DO NOT go to work, and you should call your doctor. Stay home, rest and call your doctor if you have fever and a cough.

Unless there is a change in the direction we get from the CDC, go about your regular lives, wash your hands, and stay home if you get sick.”

NY State’s governor and the mayor of NYC issued a joint statement which you can read here and which confirms the information above:

11:13 a.m., March 2, 2020

N.Y. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo wants 1,000 tests per day, encourages people to go about their lives

The morning after New York health officials announced the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the state, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sat down next to health experts and delivered a very clear message to the people of New York: “Go about your lives.”

“I get the emotion, I understand it,” Cuomo (D) said. “I’m a native born New Yorker. We live with anxiety, but the facts don’t back it up here.

“There is no doubt that there will be more cases where we find people who test positive,” Cuomo told reporters at the news conference. “This is New York. We’re the gateway to the world — of course we’re going to have it here.”

Cuomo emphasized that the symptoms are like a cold or the flu and, for most people, they treat themselves and it resolves. Both Cuomo and de Blasio (D) encouraged [healthy]  people to go to work, use public transit and to not worry about contracting the illness, which they fully expect to spread through the community.

De Blasio urged New Yorkers to take health precautions, such as “covering your mouth when you sneeze … washing your hands frequently.” And he encouraged people to go to a doctor or health-care facility right away if they think they might have the coronavirus.

The 39-year-old woman who tested positive in New York is a health-care worker who arrived on a flight from Iran on Tuesday night, Cuomo said. “Our best info is she was not contagious” when she was on the flight or in the car on the way home, he said, but officials are contacting other passengers from the flight and the driver of her car “out of an abundance of caution.”

Cuomo said they are working under the assumption that her husband is positive, too. Both the woman and her husband are staying at home because their symptoms are not severe.

Cuomo said that their main challenge is testing as many people as possible, so they know who has been exposed and they can work to contain the spread. Given that, “we are mobilizing with private labs around the state,” he said. “I’d like to have a goal of 1,000 tests per day capacity within a week, because the more testing the better.”

The NYS Department of Health has set up an informational web page at: https://health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/coronavirus/

New Podcast Episode: Condoms

Wednesday, February 19th, 2020

HVCS’ Peer Health Alliance or PHA podcast is fun, open conversation about reducing the risk of sexually transmitted infections and overall sexual health tips for young men ages 13-29 in the LGBTQ community and anyone who wants to know more about staying safe when it comes to sex.

In this episode Steph, Naomi & Andy talk about condoms, condom flavors, lube and more.

Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Spotify, iTunes, your favorite podcast app, or the web.