As most of you may know, The Center for Health Empowerment (CHE) has a clinic set up at St. James’. CHE operates on Mondays and Thursdays. We welcome you to attend our open house to learn more about CHE on March 8th at 11:45am after Sunday morning service. CHE offers educational services and FDA approved medical treatments at little to no out-of-pocket cost. The CHE wellness clinic provides PrEP and PEP medications, STI screenings, prevention and treatment, and continuing care. We work with community partners to help eligible participants find community resources for transportation, housing, mental health, and substance abuse. Our navigators provide personalized, caring support at all stages of care.
We believe that everyone deserves to live a life free of STIs, and have access to resources that promote total health and wellness in an atmosphere of acceptance and respect. Our Vision is a community with no new HIV infections and where those living with it can know their status and save lives just by knowing and caring. As of 2017, 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, and about 14% of those don’t know they are infected. With over 6,ooo people living with HIV in Austin alone, that is at least 840 people who are unaware of their status. Testing and education around prevention becomes essential in caring for those who have contracted the virus and preventing further spread. Our organization reaches out to and serves those who are statistically most effected. The diagnosis of those living with HIV is 88.5% male and the rate of Black males living with an HIV diagnosis is 3.3 times that of White males. The rate of Hispanic/Latino males living with an HIV diagnosis is 1.5 times that of White males. Men who have sex with men (MSM) account for 73.2% of people living with HIV.
Each of our clinic locations are specially adapted to the unique communities we serve. In addition to the mission of offering services to those most effected by HIV, we also are developing a women’s health care program at St. James’. We understand that there is a Head Start school on the grounds and would like to be able to create a space for woman’s health care to support the families who come here daily for education. Along the lines of adapting CHE to the needs of the community, we would also like to reach out the senior living community across the street and offer services unique to needs that are most prevalent there. We are in the early stages of these endeavors and will be sending announcements as updates occur in our projects.
At St. James’ we are looking to better understand the needs of this surrounding area and also to collaborate with the other ministries of service which are affiliated with the good work being done at St. James. CHE has also formed partnerships with local groups such as Manor Free Clinic, which provides free healthcare for uninsured residents. We encourage you all to attend our open house where we will have staff members ready and available to answer questions, share information and learn more about you. Maybe even signup to be a part of our non-profit as a volunCHEer! Hope to see you for tea and treats!
Kyndra Irwin
