AHFter Hours Podcast

Stand Against Hate

Episode Summary

This week on AHF: Unfiltered, we hear from two of our Washington D.C. regional team members about how they came to join AHF, which projects they’re most passionate about, and how their work at AHF helps serve to combat the hate and injustice that sometimes runs rampant in the region and beyond.

Episode Notes

Stand Against Hate

Hear from passionate team members serving the DMV region on the force behind Stand Against Hate.

GUEST BIO:

Barbara Chinn is the senior program manager for HIV testing, counseling, prevention, and community outreach. She’s worked at AHF for twelve years, and has served in a variety of other roles including Regional Director and program manager. - LinkedIn

Mike McVicker is the geography regional director for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. They have been with AHF for ten years. - LinkedIn

CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:

[5:31] - Standing Against Hate

What it means personally to each of our guests

For Barbara, standing against hate starts inward— as a person of color she’s experienced discrimination herself, and she now works with people to try to help them overcome the various challenges that come from hate. Meanwhile, Mike is energized by the way that the once-popular ‘No Nate’ slogan has evolved to become even more proactive. We’re not just saying ‘no’ to hate, we’re actively combatting it every chance we get.

[7:33] - Strategies for the LGBTQ Community

Going beyond PRIDE to activism

Barbara and Mike agree that being outspoken as an organization about the problems and discrimination facing the LGBTQ community is central to AHF’s mission— including influencing legislators to remove some of the barriers in place against the community. This is paired with local activism in communities impacted by HIV, from offering free testing to pharmaceutical services and more.

[14:44] - AHF & Public Health

Serving patients & fighting misconceptions

While AHF is sometimes presented as an ‘anti-PrEP’ organization, it’s actually one of the biggest fillers of PrEP prescriptions in the world. Meanwhile, local wellness programs serve as collaborative practices between pharmacies and public health, using pharmacists to offer clinical services to underserved patients.

[17:35] - Heading into PRIDE

Renewed energy and activism

Mike and Barbara speak about how this year’s PRIDE festival feels particularly poignant in the wake of discriminatory legislation such as the Don’t Say Gay bill. They’re both excited to  bring an edge of defiance to PRIDE festivities this year, and continue fighting for LGBTQ rights every year and every day.

RESOURCES:

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ABOUT AFTER HOURS:

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is the world’s largest HIV/AIDS service organization, operating in 45 countries globally. The mission? Providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy for everyone, regardless of ability to pay.

The After Hours podcast is an official podcast of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in which host Lauren Hogan is joined by experts in a range of fields to educate, inform, and inspire listeners on topics that go far beyond medical information to cover leadership, creativity, and success. 

Learn more at: https://www.aidshealth.org

ABOUT THE HOST:

Lauren Hogan is the Associate Director of Communications for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and has been working in a series of roles with the Foundation since 2016. She’s passionate about increasing the public visibility of AIDS, the Foundation's critical work, and how everyday people can help join the fight to make cutting-edge medicine, treatment, and support available for anyone who needs it.

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Episode Transcription

Lauren Hogan:

Get unfiltered lessons from our leaders at AHF, as we uncover real raw stories of where we came from and where we are going. Join us for an unscripted look at the connections our senior leadership have to our mission core values and hot initiatives. AHF is the world's largest HIV AIDS service organization operating in 45 countries globally, 16 states domestically, including DC and Puerto Rico. Our mission is to provide cutting edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay.

Lauren Hogan:

Hello and welcome to the AHFter Hours Podcast. I'm your host Lauren Hogan, serving as your liaison to take you through this journey to learn more about AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Before we start the show, please make sure to remember to check out the show notes so you can follow along. Now, let's get started. Well hello, everyone. And welcome back to another episode of the AHFter Hours Podcast. As always, I am your host Lauren Hogan. And today, we have a special regional spotlight, excuse me, for our DC area. So our two special guests today are Mike McVicker and Ms. Barbara Chinn. So welcome to the show, you guys. How are you?

Barbara Chinn:

Thank you. I'm fine. Thank you for having us.

Mike McVicker:

Yeah, I'm great. Thanks for including us in this.

Lauren Hogan:

Absolutely. So let's dive right in. Can you guys both introduce yourselves and just tell us a little bit about how you guys got started with AHF and your roles?

Mike McVicker:

Okay, I'll start. This is Mike. I am the geography regional director for DC, Maryland, and as of this year, Virginia. And I've been with the organization for, in June it'll be 10 years. And I guess 10 years ago I had moved to DC looking for a job in HIV, because there were limited options in my hometown in South Carolina. And I ran across an Indeed posting and it had this catchphrase, I think we still have this catchphrase, says, "Are you passionate about making a difference?"

Barbara Chinn:

Yes.

Mike McVicker:

And I was like, wow, this sounds like my kind of job. And then I like the name of the organization, AIDS Healthcare Foundation. It was right out there, what our mission was, very mission forward. And this is who we are and this is what we do. And so here I am. Actually, 10 years ago, I interviewed with Ms. Barbara Chinn for my first job with AHF, which was a testing counselor on the mobile testing unit. And here we are 10 years later and I still feel like AHF enables me to make a difference every day in the community. But more importantly in my community, which is the queer community.

Barbara Chinn:

And the way I came to AHF is via the consulting component that goes into establishing facilities sometimes. Michael Weinstein, the CEO of AHF and I were introduced by a mutual friend. And after speaking with Michael, I realized that this was a place that I wanted to be. And we talked about it and he asked if I would be interested in consulting with him to help him open AHF in Washington DC. So that was my role in the beginning. And that was a little over 12 years ago. And after working with him as a consultant, I was then asked by the Regional Director of the Southern Bureau, Mike Kahane if I would join the team as an employee. So I joined as the program manager. I am now the senior program manager for HIV testing, counseling, prevention, community outreach. And I've been with AHF for 12 years. It addresses for me the need to make a difference in the communities that are grossly underserved, and that is generally people of color.

Lauren Hogan:

So I want to really just dive right in. So the title of this episode is Stand Against Hate. And Stand Against Hate was a campaign that was actually created in 2017 after a race riot happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, which ultimately ended up with a young lady named Heather Heyer who was murdered. So I want to just get into what does that phrase, Stand Against Hate mean to you? And then what does it kind of just look like from a perspective from our prides and our parades and the campaigns that we do? So first question, what does Stand Against Hate mean to you guys?

Barbara Chinn:

For me, Stand Against Hate goes inward because as a person of color, I have experienced discrimination as an African American or black person or whatever the term is at the moment, whatever we are called. I have experienced discrimination because of my weight. I have experienced discrimination as a result of my age. So I understand and work with people to try to help them overcome these various challenges that are put in front of them.

Mike McVicker:

And what it means to me, it feels like it's an evolution of the No Hate slogan in a way, but a stronger statement. It's one thing to have no hate and cause no harm, but it's another thing to take a stand against hate when you see it being done to someone else by someone else. Taking a stand against hate means that you get involved, you intervene, you put yourself in the struggle and that it can be risky. But for an organization like AHF, they have influence that can enable change in the course of the struggle. And we do, and we've been very involved in racial justice issues and LGBTQ discrimination issues.

Lauren Hogan:

Yeah. And I would just say in today's climate, there's so many things going on in terms of legislation around Don't Say Gay and critical race theory and just basically retaliation against certain states of who people just want to be authentically, even as young as children. So how do you guys think that maybe we address this or through our AHF lens rather? We have pride parades, we have different initiatives where we want to celebrate our various community members. But what do you guys think in terms of the strategies that we do, how it actually helps our communities?

Barbara Chinn:

I think we are doing a very good job of talking about the problems that exist around discrimination against the LGBT community. And I think we will continue to be very vocal about it. And we are going influence legislators to help remove some of the barriers that are in place around the LGBT community.

Mike McVicker:

Yeah, I agree with that. And then we try to participate at a local level in the various communities that are impacted by HIV. So we were just talking before we started rolling about how busy June is going to be because it's the month of festivals. So prides are both Baltimore and DC Capitol Pride is held in the month of June. So that will sandwich a couple other festivals that we're involved in. We're doing Baltimore Trans Pride this year, which is the first time Baltimore's ever had a trans pride. We're also participating in AFRAM, which is an African American festival. It's not LGBT focused, but it's focused on a community of color. And so we'll be participating in that for the first time this year as well. And then, Impulse and Flux are participating in, I think it's this weekend is DC Black Pride.

Barbara Chinn:

Correct. AHF has been active in prides since we came into the Washington metropolitan area. We have always been supportive of Capital Pride and we have participated in Black and Hispanic pride. So we are known to the community and we are expanding at bringing people into the activities that we have through some of our affiliate organizations.

Lauren Hogan:

So keep it in that same vein of just talking about pride. Since we have such a huge presence, what type of services do we offer at our pride events? And what do community members see when they come out and engage with us at our booths?

Barbara Chinn:

They generally see our testing component. We provide testing on-site. This year, we will be using our mobile van coming down from upstate to help us with testing on-site. We do counseling. We have our staff participating. We take shifts so that everyone has an opportunity to participate and show their support for the community and to AHF. And we also make sure that we communicate with those who are attending pride what our services are, what we offer. Such as the opportunity for employment in addition to HIV care and linkage to care.

Mike McVicker:

Yeah, I think that's a very good point that you make Ms. Chinn. Because it's very important as an employer I think in this field to have people who represent the community that you serve working for you in the office and be a member of the local community that you serve. It's also very important for us to have our doctors at our events and the staff that people see in the healthcare centers or the pharmacies or the wellness centers to know that this is not just that we support the LGBT community, but we are a part of the LGBT community.

Lauren Hogan:

And I do want to just jump in and say from firsthand experience, Capital Pride is probably one of my favorite events, mainly because you two are there. And Ms. Barbara, you are a joy to hang out with at these prides. I learned so much about you being able to meet you in person. So Capital Pride is definitely one of my favorite prides to attend. But kind of staying with what you guys are kind of segueing into was talking about the different positions that our employees have. Can you guys touch on that a little bit? You guys have mentioned testing counselors and program managers. So what are the different positions that we have within the, well, I really should say the DMV area, which is DC, Maryland, and Virginia, since we're in all three areas. Can you guys talk about that a little bit?

Barbara Chinn:

Well, for one thing, we're looking for phlebotomists so that we can do blood draws during our wellness clinic. We do finger sticks generally for HIV testing. But for the identification of syphilis and things of that nature, we need a good sample of blood and hence the need for phlebotomists. We also have a linkage to care specialist. And that position is very important to the role of getting people into care because they hand carry, they help educate the newly diagnosed and tell them what to expect and help them identify those things that the client themselves may not realize is a barrier to care. The linkage to care specialist helps them identify those things so that when they get into our service stream, they can then roll forward with minimal interruptions.

Lauren Hogan:

Mike, you want to add anything?

Mike McVicker:

I mean, those are the positions that are open right now. But we have HIV testing counselors, we have program coordinators, program managers, senior program managers, mid-level providers. We have a pharmacist, a clinical pharmacist who's working with us in a collaboration on PrEP out of our wellness centers. And it's grown a lot since we've been here. We started as three staff members 12 years ago now. And we are over 60 in the region at this point. So as we grow to meet the needs in the community, our staff also grows.

Lauren Hogan:

Amazing. So next thing I want to slide into is what public health initiatives is AHF actively working on that you're most passionate about and why?

Mike McVicker:

I can start since it's kind of a follow up on I just mentioned our clinical pharmacist, Al Sean. So he is three days a week housed out of our wellness, our Temple Hills wellness program. And this is a collaborative practice between pharmacy and public health where we're using the pharmacist for clinical services. So particularly, to start people on PrEP. So individuals who come to our wellness programs who identify I guess high risk situations that they could benefit from PrEP or who are interested in PrEP and want to initiate PrEP will then work with him to make sure that they're eligible for it and then to make sure they have access to the medication that they need. And then they'll do the follow up visits every three months. I think it's a really cool program because PrEP, while it's not perfect, it is there, it does work, and it's getting better all the time. And so I feel like this is really cutting edge, which is a part of what AHF does is we lead the cutting edge. And we need to be here. And so I'm very happy that we are here.

Lauren Hogan:

Ms. Barbara, what about you?

Barbara Chinn:

I think that our PrEP program is excellent because we get to prevent infections from what could have been a risky behavior. And it I think works well for those who are discordant couples, so that you can ensure that even though U equals U, undetectable equals untransmittable, I also think it serves as double protection for the discordant couple.

Lauren Hogan:

And I think that it's great that you guys brought up the fact how vital PrEP is to our program. Because I think we have a lot of those AHF haters and naysayers that will say that we're against PrEP, which is just not true. And actually, we're one of the biggest fillers of PrEP prescriptions in the country. Right?

Barbara Chinn:

True.

Lauren Hogan:

So I think that's great that you guys both touched on that. We are almost at time, but I do want to ask you guys one last question rather. With pride season coming back, we were kind of on hiatus for two years because of COVID. What are you guys looking forward to most for this upcoming pride season?

Mike McVicker:

We have a really good show planned for the Capital Pride Parade. We've got a float. And we're trying to harness the feeling of pride as a protest because pride originally was a protest. And so with all this Don't Say Gay and LGBTQ discriminatory legislation that's rolling out across the country, we wanted to bring an edge to it as well as celebrate the community as but have an edge. And so we've got a marching band coming down from Baltimore to join us. It's two busloads full of musicians coming down on that van. We have dancers that are going to be dancing in front of them and it's all going to be choreographed around this whole, not Don't Say Gay, but I guess say gay theme. So I'm looking forward to our parade this year.

Barbara Chinn:

And I'm looking forward to getting the message back out to the people we are here to serve you. And we want you to be protected. We want you to be healthy. And we want AHF's name out there and we are going to see that that happens.

Lauren Hogan:

Love that. So thank you guys so much for joining us. This was a great first official bureau spotlight on our DMV area. This was great. And I'm glad we were able to touch on Stand Against Hate and some of the heavier issues while still making light of the amazing work that we're doing in the area. So thank you guys always for joining and we'll see you next time.

Mike McVicker:

All right. Thank you, Lauren.

Barbara Chinn:

Thank you.

Mike McVicker:

Y'all have a good one.

Lauren Hogan:

Thank you so much for joining us. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the show, please subscribe, share it with your friends, like, post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review. Follow us on Instagram at AHFter Hours and see you next time.