Together Greater Than Reel
Transcript:
JORDAN: From my knowledge, at that point in time, HIV was going to be the thing that took me out. It took a lot of courage for me to go and to get care.
PEDRO: There’s a lot of reasons that people wait to access services. One, they don’t know that the service is being provided. Two, it’s that they don’t have health insurance.
MICHAEL: So, the Ryan White program is for people living with HIV, to help them access: healthcare services, medications, and support services to continue to engage in the HIV care system.
STEVEN: We try to get someone within medical care that same day that they get tested, so they can start living as a healthy individual who is living with HIV, for better health outcomes.
PEDRO: Being HIV undetectable means that the virus is so low in your body that it’s not causing harm, and that there is no chance of transmitting the virus to another person through sex.
LATONIA: There are people living and thriving with HIV. I can point you in the direction of some great peer support folks that can help you to navigate this journey.
JORDAN: I want to help you and empower you to actually go find a test. What that’s going to do for you is to give you the starting point, to find out which direction do you need to go in.
JORIAN: There’s two different answers that you can get: non-reactive or reactive. And, in slang term, a positive and a negative. If you do come up non-reactive (negative), we’ll go ahead and have the conversation about PrEP, risk reduction, safer sex tips, condoms, lube, whatever you need, and if it does come back reactive, we are going to go ahead and take care of you.
LATONIA: One of the biggest reasons that I like to encourage women to access PrEP is for empowerment. I think that is empowering to know that you have that sense of self for self. Small bit of autonomy can go a long way.
PEDRO: I take PrEP myself. I take a daily pill, and it gives me that confidence, right?
PEDRO: Why not add that additional layer of a protection that can help you not acquire HIV?
MICHAEL: If you’re a sexually active individual, getting routine STI screenings is important for everyone because not all STIs show symptoms. I think sometimes we kind of psych ourselves out because of the stigma.
LATONIA: Syphilis is curable. However, lot of times, women…we don’t know right away. And, those things can cause reproductive health problems for women.
JORIAN: Doxy PEP is a pill you take after sex within 24 to 72 hours, preferably 24 latest, the latest is 72, to prevent yourself from getting syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia.
STEVEN: It’s like the plan B to a STI infection.
MICHAEL: It’s definitely important to be able to talk to your providers about that and say, “Hey, you know what? I know I don’t have another checkup for 3 months, but something’s going on.”
STEVEN: First things first, get tested for HIV. Secondly, make sure you also get screened for STIs like gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis. And then thirdly, speak to your healthcare provider about vaccines like hepatitis A and B, HPV, and mpox.
