Posts Tagged ‘health’
LGBT Health Month
Monday, January 12th, 2015Hey Hudson Valley Guys: HVCS Wants to Hear How You Stay Healthy
Wednesday, November 19th, 2014
We’re always looking to improve our programs and services, and right now we’re focusing on our HIV/STI prevention programs for men who have sex with men. We want to hear from local guys about their relationships and sex lives–whether you identify as gay, bi, queer, or anything else.
The survey takes about 10 minutes (most respondents take about 5 minutes), and if you complete the survey and send us a cell phone number, we’ll text you a $10 online gift card which you can use right away. All answers are anonymous–we’ll delete your cell digits after we send your gift card.
TAKE THE SURVEY
Your answers will help us design and improve sexual health interventions and strategies for Hudson Valley men.
Thank you for your participation!
RN Joins Project Reach Out for Low Threshold Medical Care
Friday, September 12th, 2014We’re pleased to announce that our Project Reach Out van, which provides syringe exchange services, HIV/hepatitis C screenings and referrals to drug treatment, now offers low threshold medical care for clients. A part-time registered nurse joined our PRO staff in July, offering basic wound care, general health information and referrals to medical treatment. Barbara Bennet, HVCS’ Education Director, said: “Having a nurse on board the mobile unit builds trust within the community. We can also help those who traditionally avoid medical care to identify infections and early warning signs of much more complex issues.” Clients can access this low threshold medical care at PRO’s Poughkeepsie site on Mondays and Thursdays. For more information, visit the PRO page on our website.
HVCS’ Client Statistics for 2013
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014
In 2013, HVCS saw record growth in the number of clients served, due largely to the conversion to Health Homes and the continually expanding reach of our Regional Prevention Initiative. This updated infographic includes the new category of “Non-HIV Health Home Clients” now that we are able to provide Medicaid-reimbursable care management services to those without HIV. We also had 171 new HIV-positive clients within the time period.
One statistic that often surprises our supporters is that only 16% of our HIV-positive clients acquired HIV via gay/bi sexual contact (MSM). The majority of our clients say they acquired HIV by heterosexual contact. This number may be artificially inflated due to the continued stigma against homosexual sex and drug use; some of those clients in the heterosexual category may self-report a different risk factor for fear of judgment. This also helps to explain the high number of people in the “Other/Unknown” category.
African-Americans, Latinos and other racial minority groups are in the majority of HVCS’ clients; only 28% of our clients report themselves to be white. African-Americans make up only 11% of the Hudson Valley population but account for 39% of the area’s HIV cases and 36% of HVCS’ clients. HIV still continued to disproportionately affect communities of color.
Our client base also skews older: 52% of clients are above age 40 and 30% are above age 50. While the distribution of client ages somewhat mirrors the area’s demographic distribution, HIV-positive people typically go for years without seeking assistance from us due to the lengthy progression from HIV to AIDS. The days of rapid decline and death are long gone, but this means that our clients are typically older and face multiple health issues outside of their HIV status.
Transgender People Less Likely to Have Healthcare
Thursday, January 30th, 2014The Henry K. Kaiser Family Foundation recently released an intriguing issue brief on LGBT healthcare entitled “Health and Access to Care and Coverage for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals in the U.S.” The report is chock-full of fascinating statistics from a variety of recent studies. Check out the full report for sources.
While lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals have higher rates of unmet medical needs and are less likely to have a regular provider compared to heterosexual people, transgendered people have it far worse.
- 48% of transgender people have postponed or went without medical care due to not having enough financial resources.
- 39% of transgender people have experienced some type of harassment or discrimination when seeking health care.
Transgender people also face higher poverty levels, have higher suicide rates, and huge disparities in HIV/AIDS and STI infection rates.
In “News We Already Know,” MSM Have Disproportionate HIV and STI Infection Rates
Tuesday, January 28th, 2014The Henry K. Kaiser Family Foundation recently released an intriguing issue brief on LGBT healthcare entitled “Health and Access to Care and Coverage for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals in the U.S.” The report is chock-full of fascinating statistics from a variety of recent studies. Check out the full report for sources.
As we’ve known and talked about for a long time, the report summarized the huge disparities in HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases between the MSM (men who have sex with men) population and the US population.
- 56% of all US citizens living with HIV are among MSM.
- 66% of new HIV infections are among MSM.
- Keep in mind that MSM make up only 2-3% of the entire US population.
- Black MSM accounted for 36% of new HIV infections in 2010.
- MSM account for 72% of new syphilis cases.
- MSM account for 15-25% of new Hepatitis B cases.
- MSM are 17 times more likely to develop anal cancer than heterosexual men.
Non-HIV Health Disparities Among the LGBT Population
Monday, January 27th, 2014The Henry K. Kaiser Family Foundation recently released an intriguing issue brief on LGBT healthcare entitled “Health and Access to Care and Coverage for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals in the U.S.” The report is chock-full of fascinating statistics from a variety of recent studies. Check out the full report for sources.
While there’s a lot of data on HIV, AIDS, and STI’s in the issue brief, the report also looked at other health disparities that impact the LGBT community.
- LGB people report more:
- asthma
- headaches
- allergies
- osteoarthritis
- gastro-intestinal problems
than heterosexual individuals.
- Gay and bisexual men report more cancer diagnoses and lower survival rates.
- Gay and bisexual men more cardiovascular disease than heterosexual men.
- Obesity rates are higher among lesbians than heterosexual women
- …but obesity rates are lower among gay men than heterosexual men
- Bisexuals have the highest smoking rates of any group in the US
- then lesbians and gays
- then heterosexuals.
See another recent study that shows that LGBT people spend more on smoking than any other group.
Poverty Rates Among LGBT Individuals
Friday, January 24th, 2014The Henry K. Kaiser Family Foundation recently released an intriguing issue brief on LGBT healthcare entitled “Health and Access to Care and Coverage for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals in the U.S.” The report is chock-full of fascinating statistics from a variety of recent studies. Check out the full report for sources.
The issue brief looked at poverty among LGBTers compared to the overall population.
- 39% of LGBT individuals earn less than $30K/yr, as opposed to 28% of the overall US population.
- 28% of lesbians are poor, compared to 21% of heterosexual women.
- 23% of gay men are poor, compared to 15% of heterosexual men.
- Transgender people are 4 times more likely to earn less than $10K/yr than the cisgender population.
The report contains even more statistics than these startling facts. Poverty isn’t just about money: your income level has a huge impact on healthcare, mental health, and overall well-being too.
How Many LGBT People Live in the US?
Thursday, January 23rd, 2014The Henry K. Kaiser Family Foundation recently released an intriguing issue brief on LGBT healthcare entitled “Health and Access to Care and Coverage for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals in the U.S.” The report is chock-full of fascinating statistics from a variety of recent studies. Check out the full report for sources.
One big question that people always ask: How many people in the United States actually identify as LGBT? So, according to the issue brief:
- 3- 4% of Americans identify as LGBT, or 9 million.
- 5.1% of women and 3.0% of men, aged 18-44, self-identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual.
- Racial and ethnic minorities, young people, and women are more likely to identify as LGBT.
- 20% of LGBT individuals are married (but they may not be married to the same gender).
- 18% are in a domestic partnership (but they may not be living with the same gender).
How many LGBT people are raising children?
- 18% of same-sex couples raise children.
- 11% of male same-sex couples raise children.
- 24% of female same-sex couples raise children.
- Compared to 40% of heterosexual couples who are raising children.
Top Community Health Concerns for Westchester and Putnam Counties
Thursday, January 23rd, 2014United Way of Westchester and Putnam recently conducted its “2013 Community Conversations Survey” in the two counties, and the results of the Health survey were particularly interesting.
Top Health Concerns for Westchester residents:
- affordable healthcare and screening
- dealing with chronic illness
- stresses of daily life
- obesity or unhealthy living
Top Health Concerns for Putnam residents:
- mental health
- affordable healthcare and screening
- drug and alcohol use
- dealing with chronic illness
If these are the top concerns for the two counties, HVCS is well-positioned to respond to these needs. We have programs that can assist with almost all of these needs, especially for those on Medicaid. For an infographic showing these top concerns and more, visit UWWP’s website.