Welcome to the new look ‘Inside Action’. With a new Board, and looking forward to new premises, we thought it was time for a new look to our newsletter.
You will notice some distinct changes. We hope you enjoy the new ‘look’ of the newsletter. We wanted to create a newsletter that you would want to reach out for and pick up, something that defines us from the rest of the photocopied papers you have sitting around! We also want to tell you about what we are doing, here and around Westlund House. We will no longer provide re-published articles, however, if there is something really interesting that we come across, we’ll give you a summary of it, and invite you in to read it, or you can call or email us, and we’ll get a copy of the article out to you.
If there is anything you would particularly like to see in our newsletter, please do not hesitate to call us or email to reception@aidsaction.org.au. We wish to make this a newsletter that informs you about the things you need to know.
| In this issue: |
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| Community Support Services Unit Community Education and Health Promotion Unit Administration and events |
Annual General Meeting 2005
Wednesday, 28 September was AGM night for the Council for another year. Thank you to all who were able to attend for the evening. A special thank you must go out to Chris Sturrock who spoke to us about her work in sexual health and HIV in Fiji.
It was sad to farewell Joey Tabone from his long standing role as President of the Council. The Council will be a very different place without his presence and orations at each and every event! Our thanks to him for all his years of service both publicly and behind the scenes.
Our new Board is made up of :
- John Guppy, President
- Mike Wight, Vice-President
- Kevin Playford, Secretary Treasurer
- Megan Hansford
- David Benger
- Leo Hardiman
- Paul Curwell
The Board also welcomes Kenn Basham as the PLWHA representative, Andrew McLeod as the staff representative (6 month position) and has just co-opted Alli Gordon and Claire Drake.
Upcoming events
As most are aware, World AIDS Day is upon us once again. A schedule of events is included in this newsletter. I would particularly encourage your participation at Positively Red, the dinner at Vivaldi’s Restaurant. This is a wonderful opportunity to come and show your support of the positive community.
As always, whether we are busy being out in the community or not, remember, we are here for you, so please, contact us if there is any thing we can do to enhance your life.
Rebecca Davey
General Manager
Community Support Services Unit
Each publication this section of the newsletter will keep you up to date with the work and activities of the Community Support Services Unit. Please fell free to contact Nada, Stephanie or Marcus (PLWHA support worker who works closely with all staff of the Unit) if you have any queries about what we do.
Last month we said goodbye and thankyou to Mark Appleford who joined the team early in the year as the Health Maintenance and Treatments Information Officer. Mark will be returning to Scotland in a few months and will be taking some time to see other parts of Australia (besides Westlund House). Our new treatments officer is Stephanie Williams who commenced early this month and has now settled in well. Stephanie has a diverse range of experience particularly in the areas of health education and complementary therapies.
We welcome her to the team at Westlund House.
In October we were fortunate to have specialist HIV dietician, Jenny McDonald, visit us to provide consultations for clients. She was fully booked and is keen to return for a full day in December for both follow up and new consultations. Most of her travel expenses have been covered by pharmaceutical company Merck, Sharp and Dohme and this significant contribution is gratefully acknowledged.
An update on the roll out of the ‘Williams Housing Project’, our new community housing scheme for people living with HIV/AIDS. The third property to come on-line has now been completed and passed building inspections. Hopefully, a tenant can move into this Gungahlin property before Christmas. Already two properties in other parts of Canberra have been allocated to clients who are now able to enjoy
stable and affordable housing and we expect this final property to be allocated in the coming month.
In addition, the new HIV/AIDS Dental Program is also up and running. This is in partnership with the ACT Dental Health Program and provides priority treatment for clients of the AAC. A number of people have already registered.
In conjunction with PLWHA, we are planning on running the Arts and Crafts Project (funded by Healthpact) over three months from February. Ideas put forward so far include Mask-Making and Quilt Making – any further suggestions are welcome as we should be able to present four different series of workshops.
Feel free to drop by for a chat or phone at anytime.
Nada Ratcliffe
Manager CSSU
People Living with HIV/AIDS
and the
AIDS Action Council of the ACT
would like to invite you to dinner to celebrate
World AIDS Day 2005.
Venue: Vivaldi Restaurant
University Ave Acton
Date: Friday 9 December 2005
Time: 6.30pm
Cost: $40 pp
or $20 for HIV Positive People with a Health Care Card.
BYO ($6 corkage) and fully licensed
RSVP: 6 December 2005 with payment to
Leonie on 62572855 or
mailto:leonie.campbell@aidsaction.org.au
Entertainment: Tony Ladds
Community Education and Health Promotion Unit
Welcome to the new look newsletter, in this section of each edition we will update you on the work of the Community Education and Health Promotion Unit (CEHPU) and the Sex Worker Outreach Project (SWOP).
If there is an issue or information you would like to see written up in the section please contact Kevin, Tony, David or Jessie in the CEHPU.
As from the 1st July SWOP became part of the CEHPU and on the 5th October Jessie started as the new Part time Education Officer for SWOP. We also have had four new casual outreach workers
commence work with us and they have completed their first round of
outreach visits to ACT brothels.
It is coming up to “That Time Of Year” again and we have a lot to do.
PLWHA/CEHPU initiatives
During August a forum was conducted based on feedback received from people who where living long term with HIV who attended the retreat conducted by PLWHA ACT in 2005. The forum titled ‘where to from here’ was an opportunity for people to discuss key issues impacting on their lives currently and in the future.
Topics discussed included
In your experience what are some of the issues facing people living long term with HIV?’
- Changed life expectations
- Worries and burdens
- Depression and unhappiness
Campaigns
In September 2005 we launched a new AAC generic condom pack and posters campaign with our website address highlighted for more information on HIV/AIDS and STI. This campaign will be distributed throughout Canberra to community health and medical services plus a targeted campaign to reach MSM who use Beats and SOPV for sex. The campaign uses the theme “Take Credit For Safe Sex “utilising the current credit card company themes to market the message. The packs are in presented in four colours and are designed to look like credit cards. This campaign is expected to be distributed for a period of twelve months to allow product and message recognition over a period of time. We are pleased to note that a similar campaign ‘Cover Yourself In Canberra’ had a similar marketing strategy, and had a 73.3% proportion of population who recognised the resource; this research was conducted and reported by the NCHSR Canberra Gay Periodic Survey 2003.
The CEHPU was on the implementation group for the national HIV Testing Campaign. The website for this campaign was launched in September and you can link to it from the AAC website. On a local level the campaign includes posters, newspaper ads (in university papers and the Chronicle) and also next year’s university diaries. We have decided to utilise this campaign to highlight our PACT Project (sexual health screening) and give it a new look. The project is timely as we will launch it during our next series of STRIP clinics and continue to distribute the information throughout 2006 which includes a calendar to be distributed during SpringOUT and World AIDS Day events. We have also set up a Testing Email Reminder system through our AAC website that people can utilise.
Until next time
Kevin, Tony, David, and Jessie.
SpringOUT Fairday
The SpringOut Fairday was once again hosted by the AAC. The weather turned on its very best for us, and hundreds from the community came to enjoy the variety of stalls which included information and education stalls from varies community groups, commercial stalls, a BBQ, entertainment from the Qwire, the Tulley’s and Q-radio. The Chief Minister came along and was presented a Queer Pride Award by the SpringOut organizers, and the pet parade was well attended by a variety of four legged friends.
Campberra chocolate queens strutting their stuff.
How many condoms and how much lube gets used on a Saturday night?
Answer: A hell of a lot!
The Qwire calms the madding lunchtime crowd.
Administration and events
Another financial end of year is complete!
June through to the AGM each year sees an extremely busy time for the Administration Unit. During that time end of year processes, that all business must follow, take priority over any other work. Another successful audit underpins our 2004-2005 financial report.
Administration would like to pass our thanks to auditors Masters Le Mesurier for making the audit as painless as possible and to convey a very big thank you to our accountants Everalls DFK Pty Ltd,
particularly Melissa Tetley, for their frank and valued advice.
The unit is working steadily on other projects as well. We are currently reviewing all policy and procedure of the Council. Our objective is to publish the policy and procedure to our new intranet.
To page top
Volunteering
Our volunteer core training program is currently being reviewed and rewritten, and is planned to be delivered early in the new year, in a new format that sees the course running one night a week for three to four weeks. If you are interested in undertaking this training, contact Leonie Campbell on 6257 2855, or via email on leonie.campbell@aidsaction.org.au to register your interest. Leonie will keep you informed as to exactly when training will occur.
The volunteers have been really busy completing many thousands of Safe Sex Packs and hundreds of Red ribbons in preparation for World AIDS Day and SpringOut Events. The ‘Bush Dance’ saw the distribution of over 800 condom packs alone! A special thank you to all who have been involved in this really important work in the Council. Thank you also to the volunteers who have provided muscle, smiles, time, cooking skills, logistical skills, and just about anything else you can think of, over the time of SpringOut. Fairday would not be able to occur without you, and the Council would not be able to have the presence it does at all the events without your participation.
The Admin Unit
Andrew, Leonie, Valan and Mandi
World AIDS Day Activities 2005
Where will you be?
Thursday 1 December
7:30am: Chief Minister’s Breakfast, Kurrajong Hotel, Barton
Cost: $22 (pay at the door, but RSVP if possible to 6257 2855)
10am-2pm: Information stall and expo in conjunction with ‘Grooving in Garema’, Garema Place, Civic
5:30pm: Ecumenical Church Service, All Saints Church, Cowper St, Ainslie
6pm: Twighlight picnic at the Carillon. BYO picnic dinner, and stay to watch various national buildings light up in red! A special thank you to the National Capital Authority for their generous assistance with this project.
Friday 9 December
6:30pm: Positively Red Dinner at Vivaldi’s. RSVP’s to 6257 2855 essential with payment (see advertisement on page 3)
You can show your support for people living with HIV and AIDS by purchasing a red ribbon and wearing it proudly. All proceeds from red ribbon sales go to the Trevor Daley Fund, to assist people living with HIV who are experiencing financial hardship.