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A P R I L 2 0 1 4 N E W S L E T T E R

Our Challenge is Set

“OUR  CHURCH  SHOULD  BE  A  BEACON  OF  LIGHT  AND  HOPE  FOR  ANYONE  WHO  SUFFERS  FROM  OR  HAS  FAMILY  OR  FRIENDS  WHO  SUFFER  

FROM  THIS  DISEASE.”

SAMARITAN MINISTRY

A colleague at Columbia Cares recently shared that a client with whom she was working, had “returned to care”. Congratulations were in order. Getting clients in care has always been a goal, so what’s the big deal?

WALKING ALONGSIDE OUR NEIGHBORS…BEING THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST…

As we work with clients, people living with HIV in our community, we see them in different stages of care.

We tested Clarence last week at an outreach event and he tested positive for HIV antibodies. This is a big deal for Clarence personally. He also represents one of the challenges for our team of partner organizations… getting people tested and “linked to

care”. Clarence had his blood drawn and counseled with our colleague at the Health Department the same day as his test. Linkage is very important.

Stacey is newly diagnosed and needs to get started in care. She needs encouragement. Stacey came to our Women’s Support Group nervous and in need of support. She will need to get her initial labs done and talk with a doctor about starting HIV medications.

Some, like Bruce, have been HIV Positive for a long time, but have fallen out of care… stopped taking medications for some reason or another. This can put Bruce at great risk to get sick… even at risk of loosing his life…so it is critical that Bruce receive support to get back to care.

Robert is doing a great job with his medical care and has a long history of successful lab work, an indication that his meds work and that he is “virally suppressed”. This is great news, but for Robert, a recent stent in jail has presented challenges with income, housing, and mental health. His HIV labs are off kilter, probably due to stress, and stress leads to more stress. Our job is to encourage and help Robert to stay the course.

These are real stories that illustrate the challenges our clients face and OUR challenge.

We want everyone tested and

HIV Treatment is a “Cascade”

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The Hubbard Sessions Educator, activist, mentor, and friend, Mark Hubbard, will again be spending some time in Knoxville as a follow-up to his time this spring at CROI (Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections). This is the big “science” conference and Mark always shares what he has learned with his friends and colleagues across the state.

Mark will be in Knoxville on August 5 to present two topics in a Lunch & Learn format (partnering with Helen Ross McNabb Center). Topics will include “Mapping the Cure Quest”, “Undetectable”, and “Silver Bullets and Golden Idols”. Are you intrigued?

AND, we now know that a suppressed HIV viral load (the amount of virus in a persons blood) will reduce the chance that someone will pass along the virus, even without the use of a condom. In fact, the HPTN 052* Study stated in a statement in 2011 that “early (HIV Drug Therapy) is more effective at preventing transmission of HIV than all other behavioral and biomedical prevention interventions studied to date, including condom use, male circumcision, vaginal microbicides, HIV vaccination, and pre-exposure prophylaxis.”

So, this is what everyone is thinking….. “If we could just identify every HIV+ person (with testing) and get them on HIV medications, we could stop the spread of HIV and END this epidemic!” Right?

Well, not so fast.

There are many, many barriers to getting everyone tested (money), and getting medications to

everyone (money), even if everyone wanted to take the medications. It is a one-person at a time process that involves the entire community. That’s why my colleague at Columbia Cares is excited. Here is ONE PERSON that she lost track of, and now she got him BACK!

It is a big win.

Perc

enta

ge o

f Dia

gnos

ed

0

0.225

0.45

0.675

0.9

Stage of Care

Diagnosed Linked to Care Retained in Care Prescribed ARVs Virally Supressed

25%33%

37%

66%

82%

The HIV Treatment Cascade

Our Challenge is Set (continued)

*HIV Prevention Clinical Trials Network 052 - HPTN052

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Programming Notes

Hepatitis C Testing We are still on course with our Hepatitis C (HCV) testing program, in partnership with Helen Ross McNabb Center. So far in 2014, we have tested 97 people with 29 positive results - a 30% positivity rate!

The success of this testing program revolves around the counseling that we provide following testing, and what we know from research that testing alone can cause behavior

change. A recent article from http://www.aidsmap.com, "Testing HCV positive has a sustained impact on drug

injecting behavior” supports the need for community HCV

screening as a way of actually reducing the rate of injection

drug use among those testing HCV positive. The authors of

an editorial that accompanies the study believe the results highlight “the importance of HCV testing as a catalyst for behavior change”.

Our continuing challenge is funding this program with each test kit costing $20. SEE PAGE 5.

!!

DATES AND

EVENTS !First Tuesday HIV Support Group - for men & women (monthly – call for details)

First Monday Women’s Group - (monthly – call for details)

Samaritan Ministry Summer Cookout June 3rd @ 6:00 p.m. - friends and family invited

HIV and the Southern States Meeting at the White House - June 18 - Washington DC

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly June 23-27 - Atlanta

Mark Hubbard Lunch-n-Learn - August 5th 10:30-1:30 Helen Ross McNabb Center, Knoxville

U.S. Conference on AIDS October 2-5 San Diego

!

Samaritan Ministry A Ministry of Central Baptist Church of Bearden Wayne Smith, Director and Editor !6300 Deane Hill Dr. Knoxville, TN 37919 865-450-1000 x827 !info@samaritancentral.org www.samaritancentral.org

Get an eNewsletter? !We are trying to get greener by providing an online newsletter. If you are receiving a printed copy and would prefer an online edition (full color with links) please send an email to us at info@samaritancentral.org with the subject line “eNewsletter”!

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A Day on the Hill Wednesday, March 12, was A Day on the Hill for HIV in Nashville, Tennessee. A group of about 20 professionals and consumers gathered on the Hill for this “first ever” event. 

Rather than charging up to the legislature over a burning issue or piece of legislation, our purpose was to begin the process of building relationships. Without an “ask”, our primary message was to thank our East Tennessee legislators for supporting the Governor’s Budget, which, among other things, provides a “safety net” of services for people living with HIV.

A White House Invitation Wayne has been invited to participate in a meeting at the White House to discuss HIV in the Southern States. This meeting is on June 18th and was originally scheduled, then cancelled because of the government shutdown, in October.

Samaritan Ministry Volunteer Louise

Owens celebrated her 8th Anniversary with our ministry on Feb. 26th!

Louise helps to organize our materials and

handles much of our correspondence. If you have gotten a Get Well

or Birthday card, or have received a Daily Bread,

Louise sent it to you!!!

!Ministry Assistant

Brandi Major started working for us in

February. Brandi brings expertise with social

media and web development and is

handling our rent and utility assistance

program. Brandi will also help plan our FaithWalk

event in December.

12.06.14 www.samaritancentral.org/faithwalk/

!

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Gotta say that 2014 was a good year for Samaritan Ministry. All of our financial partners have continued their support, and in a few cases, INCREASED that support. We are very humbled and grateful.

We would like for you to continue your support through your individual contributions, with are always needed and represent 15% of our total budget. We always need you!

We haver a special need this year to be able to fund our HIV and HCV testing programs. Kits are expensive. Won’t you consider a special gift just for this purpose?

100 HIV Kits cost $1250

100 Hepatitis C Kits cost $2000

Give by CHECK using the handy form below.

OR, you can give ON-LINE through the Central Baptist Church of Bearden portal by clicking HERE and selecting Samaritan Ministry in the Quick-Give pull down menu. Easy Peasy.

Our Financial Needs

OUR FUNDING PARTNERS

THESE GROUPS PROVIDE GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT

FOR OUR MINISTRY: !CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH OF

BEARDEN THE COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP (CBF) AND THE

TENNESSEE CBF BEULAH BAPTIST CHURCH OF

DEVEREUX, GA THE EQUITAS GROUP

CEDAR SPRINGS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

THESE ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDE

SUPPORT FOR DIRECT CLIENT ASSISTANCE: !

MAC AIDS FUND BROADWAY CARES/EQUITY

FIGHTS AIDS FISH OF KNOX COUNTY !THESE GROUPS PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR OUR CASE MANAGEMENT EFFORTS: !TENN. DEPT. OF HEALTH

EAST TENNESSEE AIDS FUND !DIRECT SUPPORT FOR FALL

PROGRAMMING (THANKSGIVING BANQUET, CHRISTMAS AND

THANKSGIVING FOOD DELIVERIES) COMES FROM: !

CITY OF KNOXVILLE FISH OF KNOX COUNTY !AND OF COURSE -

GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM

YOU!

YES, I WANT TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF SAMARITAN MINISTRY. !

❏ $50 ❏ $100 ❏ $250 other ____________________ !NAME:______________________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________________

City, State, Zip: _____________________________________________

Phone: ______________________________________

Email: _____________________________________

!CHECKS MUST BE MADE OUT TO CENTRAL BAPTIST

CHURCH OF BEARDEN. Please note Samaritan Ministry in the memo! !

Mail your contribution to: Samaritan Ministry, 6300 Deane Hill Dr., Knoxville, TN 37919

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FROM THE EDITOR - WHAT ABOUT THE “CURE”?

         Over  the  past  few  years  there  have  been  some  notable  cases  involving  people  who  have  apparently  been  “cured”  of  HIV.  Most  notably  are  Timothy  Brown,  and  the  “Mississippi  Child”.  These  cases  are  startling  and  reveal  that  much  progress  is  being  made  in  the  quest  for  a  cure  to  HIV.  [Learn  about  these  cases  at  by  watching  a  video  from  this  years  CROI  Conference)  Watch  Video  

     Failures  have  happened,  too,  with  some  vaccine  trials  being  stopped  and  the  “Boston  PaKents”  ending  up  rebounding  with  virus  aLer  hopes  were  high  that  the  virus  was  gone.  

         So,  what  do  we  learn?  First,  there  IS  hope  that  we  will  have  a  cure  for  HIV,  sooner  as  opposed  to  later.  Second,  these  cases  and  findings  have  electrified  everyone  in  HIV  research  to  dig  deeper  and  to  work  harder.  The  word  “cure”  is  no  longer  a  word  we  cannot  speak.  At  conferences  related  to  HIV  the  issue  of  finding  a  cure  is  front  and  center  with  scienKsts,  poliKcians,  and  acKvists  all  working  hard  to  get  to  that  goal.  

We  would  solicit  your  prayers  for  this  effort.  Prayers  for  the  researchers  and  prayers  for  funding.  ConKnued  prayer  for  those  LIVING  with  HIV.  

SAMARITAN MINISTRY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH OF BEARDEN 6300 Deane Hill Dr. Knoxville, TN 37919

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