An Update on ActionAIDS, Pennsylvania’s Largest AIDS-Related Service Provider

Started in 1986, ActionAIDS has grown to become Pennsylvania’s largest AIDS service provider.

“ActionAIDS started about 30 years ago when the HIV epidemic was in a very different place than it is now. It was started by a group of folks who were supporting their friends and lovers who were dying of AIDS,” said Theresa Clark, the Prevention Services coordinator.

“A group of people came together to be buddies, or supports, to their loved ones, and out of that buddy program formed ActionAIDS,” she said.

ActionAIDS now serves over 4,000 clients a year with the support of 350 volunteers and 84 staff members.

The nonprofit has five offices located in Philadelphia (with one in Chester, PA) and offers case management (the organization’s biggest program) in a variety of different areas, including perinatal (pregnancy/birth) assistance, behavioral health and general case management.

Case management focuses on removing barriers to primary care by working with clients to broker services, assess eligibility for benefits and entitlements, and provide food, clothing, and transportation.

In addition, the buddy program that ActionAIDS was created around still exists today and consists of 300 volunteers who work closely with the case managers to provide social supports for ActionAIDS’s clients who are living with HIV.

Encouraging People to Get Tested Using Social Networks

One of the other main programs ActionAIDS offers is HIV testing, which it provides four days a week, Monday through Thursday at its Center City office and Fridays at its office in West Philly, as well as by appointment.

Currently, ActionAIDS is using social networking to encourage people to get tested. The strategy is to get people who are living with HIV to act as recruiters and encourage people within their social network (friends, family, etc.) to get tested.

“The reason behind the model is that we acknowledge that people who are HIV positive may have a better success at encouraging their friends and networks to get tested than someone that that person doesn’t know,” Clark said.

Rafael Melecio, who works in Prevention as a HIV tester, assists the social networking strategy by getting to know the recruiters and giving them a brief training in HIV 101.

“I also [teach] them how to interact with people, and how to open up themselves without exposing their status,” he said. “Just basically encouraging them to be able to talk to everybody about HIV and the importance of getting tested.”

Other services offered by ActionAIDS include housing, employment, and education counseling services. In addition, ActionAIDS recently received a grant from Philadelphia Corporation for Aging to do a series of workshops with seniors and staff around HIV prevention.

AIDS Run/Walk and the It Gets Better Campaign

Later this month on October 19, ActionAIDS will participate in the 28th Annual AIDS Run/Walk, organized by the AIDS Fund. While ActionAIDS has offered HIV testing at previous events, they are not doing so this year. However, Clark said, the event is a great opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of getting tested.

ActionAIDS is also participating in the Kimmel Center’s It Gets Better campaign as one of its organizing partners. For the It Gets Better campaign, the Kimmel Center is  presenting a one-week residency full of meaningful activities, including a youth led panel, a spoken word series, a town talk, in-school assemblies, and public service announcements to discuss the bullying issues in our community and give LGBTQ youth a voice. 

ActionAIDS will be tabling at one of the events and will be represented on one of the event’s panels. They’ll also be supporting the campaign through social media and their website, including a blog written about the importance of the It Get’s Better Campaign.

“It’s a terrific campaign that they’re doing, and Dan Savage’s It Get’s Better project, it’s huge and it really is important,” Clark said.

New Medical Clinic at West Philadelphia Office

Another new project ActionAIDS is working on is a new medical clinic at its West Philadelphia office. In January, ActionAIDS will begin offering primary care services for the uninsured or underinsured.

The clinic will operate as a drop-in clinic. To start, it will be open for a half day each week and will offer visits with a nurse practitioner, support groups, and therapeutic arts and crafts, according to an ActionAIDS case study publication. In the publication, ActionAIDS Executive Director Kevin Burns said he expects demand to soar at the clinic and that he foresees a three- or four-day-a-week clinic within eighteen months.

“We haven’t done medical services in the past, but now this will expand what we are able to do with our clients,” said Clark.

Further Information

General information can be found at http://actionaids.org/

HIV testing hours and locations: http://actionaids.org/services/prevention

Information about the AIDS run/walk http://actionaids.org/aidswalk

Learn more about Kimmel Center’s It Get’s Better Campaign at http://kimmelcenter.org/support/itgetsbetter.php