buy kamagra onlineOn World AIDS Day my thoughts are with those that we have lost and my hopes lie with those who are working to end AIDS. Let this disease be stamped out once and for all!
I look forward to the year ahead with great hope and great excitement. The changes that HART have started to make in the way they reach the public look amazing. The new website is such a breath of fresh air and I love the logo.
I know how hard everyone at HART works to provide the services that they give and working with the team, the trustees, and of course with Biggins, I am going to do all I can to help raise more funds to widen the reach of HART into our community.
The stigma faced by those living with HIV has lessened, but it has not gone away; it behoves us all to stand up for those living with HIV and their families, to ensure that they do not face prejudice in our communities and in their day to day lives.
HIV is no longer a death sentence and with early diagnosis and effective treatment, an HIV+ individual can expect to live as long as an HIV- peer. However, those with HIV will face significant mental health issues and the disease will often harm overall employment and careers. We all have to try and help take away the stigma and ease the burden on those living with HIV. Most importantly to us all is knowing our status. You can find out about local testing on this page on the HART site, and there are links to national resources if you do’t live locally.
In the article published today by The Times, where Sir Richard Branson explained what drives him to keep fighting HIV/AIDS, he says that the business community has a role in contributing towards the fight against AIDS. He says that ‘Doing good is good for business’ and I hope that in the year ahead we can get local businesses on board to help support the work HART carry out. Even more simply in these economic conditions, I hope we can help to get them to recognise that employees living with HIV should not be stigmatised but treated as any staff with a long term or chronic condition should be treated; with compassion, care and respect.
On this World AIDS day i send my best wishes to all of those living with HIV and their friends and families; it is through the work that HART carry out and through the actions that we should all take to stand up against prejudice, that we show you that you will never be alone.
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The arrival of HIV/Aids in the early 1980s led to predictions of deaths on a massive scale – yet developed countries largely avoided such a fate. What did the wave of urgent awareness campaigns get right?
An interesting article on the BBC here
Winter Edition
Dear Members and friends of HART,
I find it hard to believe that it is November and we are heading towards Christmas. It has been a busy year, particularly through the Summer with all the work we have had done to the building. The work has not just been on how we look though. Just as important is how people view us as an organisation. We have been working hard to update and improve the image we show to the wider world and we have developed a brand new logo and website which we will be launching on a date to be arranged in January. We will of course keep you all informed.
As usual, we have several other planned events. David has organised another fundraising quiz to be held on November 30th from 7 pm at the Battle of Britain club. Entry is £5, or £10 if you want to eat. Contact a staff member to let us know your choice from the menu. All proceeds from this are doubled by Barclays Bank and go straight into the special fund to directly benefit members.
David has also organised a collection and red ribbon distribution to be held on December 1st, 2nd and 3rd outside Sainburys in Uxbridge. We are relying on members offering some time to help with this. If you have time to spare for a 2 hour slot on any of these days please talk to a member of staff. We really need you to get involved. We will have the usual World AIDS Day vigil and breakfast on Thursday December 1st. Please remember to check the downstairs notice board for details of any other events, including the pantomime which we hope to organise for January. Christmas lunch this year is on December 20th. You better be hungry!
Remember last year, (how could you forget…) the weather was so bad we had to postpone it until January. Whilst we have ordered better conditions this year, if we are snowbound please call us to check we are still going ahead. We will not cancel but we might need to postpone.
The next Women’s Group is on Friday November 25th. Six months ago we did a survey on this group. All the people who attended said they enjoyed the group and found it useful. However, since that meeting attendance has fallen despite our considerable efforts to contact people by mail and telephone. We also offer transport to those coming from further away.
I have discussed these issues with staff, some members and volunteers. I know that this group used to be very well attended and I am personally committed to making it work. I do not want this group to be something HART provides for you, I would rather it is something HART enables you to provide for yourselves. This is after all your group. Alleyn, Josephine and Irene have very kindly offered to coordinate from the next meeting onwards. This also means that the group will be exclusively comprised of positive women, other than any speakers you may wish to organise. We will of course continue to offer any support or assistance you require – all you need to do is ask.
Next week, the new PCT consortium release their ‘commissioning intentions’ for the voluntary sector. The PCT provide community and hospital based health services and for many years they have provided HART with around half of its funding. The commissioning intentions inform us of how they intend to make changes, (reductions) for the next financial year which starts in April. These could mean small cuts to funding or much larger ones.
If we are informed that they intend to make a large cut, we can appeal – and so can you. As patients who would be affected, your views have to be taken into consideration. I may therefore be asking you to make your views known. Without your support, if there are large cuts the services we provide could be drastically reduced or even stopped altogether. You need to ask yourselves what HART means to you and what you would do if, at worst it was no longer here.
We are expecting some staff shortages for some weeks from the end of November. This will make it all the more important to make appointments for our key services. Please bear with us. It is also now very important that you give us any updated contact information including any email address you have. We have our AGM coming up soon on a date to be agreed at the next Trustee’s meeting, (November 23d). Please check our notice boards or call us for more information.
I hope that this will be the last newsletter that I post to the majority of you, as next time all the above information and much, much more will be available online from January. I have seen the trial version of our new website and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!
Keep warm and best wishes,
Simon
FUND-RAISING UPDATE!
September 2011
You may be interested to know that through our popular quiz evenings and in association with Barclays Bank – we have raised a total £4,944.35 for the HART Special Fund!!
Thanks to all those who regularly attend and to David Brown for all his hard work and of course Nicholas from Barclays Bank for their continued support!
GAVINS’ SPONSORED SWIM!
More thanks go to our very own Gavin for his fantastic fund-raising swim. Gavin raised a whopping £679.00 for HART. Many thanks to Gavin and to all those who sponsored him.
HART RE-DECORATION COMPLETES
We hope you are all enjoying the improvements to the HART building. Thanks to everyone for bearing with us whilst work was completed. Thanks to Rosie and Robert who worked so hard. We will shortly be planning to re-carpet all over which will complete the re-decoration project. As before we will try to minimise any disruption to services. You can see some pictures here.
IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR GAY MEN
In London there is currently an outbreak of infections of Shigella flexneri.
This bacteria can be sexually transmitted as well as transmitted by contact with faeces due to poor hygiene. The outbreak is affecting men who have sex with men, particularly when associated with public sex venues.
Shigella causes dysentery and can be very severe for people with lowered immune systems. If you have severe stomach problems, including cramps and diarrhoea seek medical attention.
If you have any other questions please speak to Simon or Tina. More information at www.hpa.org.uk