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The Equality Herald - East Tennessee's source for LGBT community news |
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Vanishing legacies, dwindling resources Community must advocate for PWLHAs
by
Beth Maples-Bays In September 2004, I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Bay Harbor. The ceremony at the residential facility, intended to augment the services of HIV/AIDS nonprofit, Positively Living, was a joyous occasion. The Knoxville-based assisted health program served the needs of adults with catastrophic illnesses including case management, counseling, financial assistance, and other services vital to the population served by this agency. The addition of the residential facility was the icing on the cake. Starting in 1997, the program eventually channeled funds from major sources such as the East Tennessee Ryan White Title II Consortium, HUD’s Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS (HOPWA) program, all four of the area hospital/health care systems, local city and county governments, and numerous other sources. It had arisen from the literal ashes of the arson-targeted AIDS Response Knoxville (ARK) whose facility on Central Avenue was burned down. The agency itself went up in flames later due to internal combustion – another topic for another day. “I’ve said from the beginning that I don’t care who serves on our board, I just always want this room filled with compassion,” noted Executive Director Dee Crumm in her remarks addressing a crowd of more than 75 people gathered to witness the beginning of a residential program for HIV+ men with multiple diagnoses. As she spoke, I was struck by her easy manner in dealing with the delicate topic of her sexual orientation and how that seemed to be a non-issue despite the fact that she was, on this important day, surrounded by numerous dignitaries and officials. Representatives from the city, county, state, and federal agencies and offices were present for the grand opening of a much-needed facility designed to provide residential services for people when they needed them most. In a move that shocked the community, Positively Living simply ceased to exist. As an HIV/AIDS-related entity, the agency had been a community leader providing cutting-edge services to a population that was not attractive to hospital or church-based programs. Homeless, gay men with psychological and chemical dependency problems are often not likely to avail themselves of services associated with expensive hospital-based programs or in settings that may not be welcoming to LGBTQ people. While these are good programs that are open to serving all persons with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs), some question their ability to reach into our community given the milieu in which they operate. That they serve PLWHAs and serve them well is not in question, however there is a sub-set of the PLWHAs population that may be missed by their efforts. That subset was formerly served by Positively Living. With the LGBTQ community either in the dark or in deep denial, Positively Living was systematically dismantled. The Executive Director was removed. The Ryan White funding was lost. The service agency was effectively dismantled and became instead another shelter for homeless men with dual diagnoses of psychiatric illness, chemical dependency, or catastrophic illness. The direction of the agency was pointed without a doubt in a whole new direction, and that direction left the LGBTQ community behind. While the Hope Center and Samaritan Ministries do a great deal of good for a lot of people, there is no denying the reality that those two agencies cannot serve as many people as were formerly served by them along with Positively Living. And while the administration of the Ryan White monies through Child and Family Services is undoubtedly a good thing for their clients, the context is important.
We as a community must step up and demand cultural competency from social and medical services providers who serve our community members. We must be the voice of advocacy for those in need. LGBTQ people are a unique patient/client population and services should be tailored to meet their needs if they are to be effective. A recently validated tool enabling service providers to assess caregivers’ beliefs and behaviors when working with gay and lesbian clients may prove valuable if we are to successfully evaluate the services provided to our community. The scale, developed by Catherine Crisp, Ph. D., assistant professor at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare in Lawrence, Kansas, will be further explored in a future article.
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