Cascade AIDS Project

2012 CAP Art Auction Raises More Than $600k in Total Revenue

 

CAP - Chorus
Portland Gay Men's Chorus kicking off the 2012 CAP Art Auction

On the evening of April 28th, Cascade AIDS Project hosted its 23rd Annual Art Auction. Some 250 works of art were up for live and silent auction bidding to over 1,500 attendees at the Memorial Coliseum. "I have been a part of art procurement for over 10 years now, and I have never seen a better line up of art," said Amy Caplan of Caplan Art designs and Chair of the procurement committee.    

 

Live auction art sales neared $100,000 and silent auction sales topped that. The evening's surprises included a paddle raise for $25,000 by Howard Hedinger and a challenge match of $20,000 from Linda Hickey of the Ray Hickey Foundation. The biggest surprise, however, was by Nike VP Tim Hershey, who challenged the audience when the $1,000 bids were made to reach $50,000.  Nike matched this amount. Then he called for another $50,000 match toward the child of one of CAP's clients for a scholarship fund. In all, the night raised over $600,000. 

 

Every year since 1990, CAP has hosted an art auction and dinner to raise money to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and provide services to those infected or affected by HIV in the Northwest. Portland's art community first organized this iconic event, and they remain the backbone of the Art Auction today. All funds raised support the vital work of Cascade AIDS Project. 

Screw Stigma at AIDS Walk
In This Issue
2012 CAP Art Auction
What's New in HIV?
QDoc Film Festival
Change in HIV Testing
Harm Reduction Conference
National Hepatitis Testing Day
New Board Members
New Staff in Prevention & Education
Thank You Donors!
Quick Links
  

  
  

What's New in HIV? Community Symposium 

What's New in HIV

Health Care Reform and its impact on people living with HIV/AIDS. 

 

Do you work with clients living with HIV/AIDS? Are you living with HIV/AIDS?  Curious about what happens when the Oregon Medical Insurance Pool comes to an end? What exactly is the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange? Are there possible changes to CAREAssist? Do you know how the changes will impact you? Come find out!  

 

Thursday, June 21, 2012; 5:00 - 7:00pm

Mercy Corps Action Center Event Space, 45 SW Ankeny St., Portland, OR 97204

                       

A dynamic panel of speakers, moderated by CAP Executive Director Michael Kaplan, will include:

  • Tom Burns, Director of Pharmaceutical Programs, Oregon Health Authority
  • Liz Baxter, Executive Director, We Can Do Better and Board Chair for the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange
  • Ed Blackburn, Executive Director, Central City Concern and Member of the Executive Committee for the proposed Tri-County CCO. 

 

Providers, clients, and community partners are welcome to attend. Please RSVP to [email protected] or (503) 278-3801. 

QDoc Film Festival: VITO

QDoc

 

Join Cascade AIDS Project, Equity Foundation, Our House of Portland and Director Jeffrey Schwarz for a special screening of VITO on Sunday, May 20th, 7pm at the Kennedy School Theater, 5736 NE 33rd Avenue (tickets: $9 general / $7 senior/student).

 

The film, VITO, captures the essence of Vito Russo, a remarkable man whose courage and wisdom will be celebrated for generations to come. Vito Russo was one of the most articulate, charismatic voices for gay rights since the early Gay Liberation days in 1970s New York. His parallel passions for cinema and gay rights came together in the book The Celluloid Closet, a groundbreaking study of gay and lesbian imagery and themes in film that remains a landmark in the field, and which subsequently became a major documentary film. As one of the founders of GLAAD, Russo led the charge in demanding an end to homophobic portrayals of gays and lesbians in the media.  As AIDS engulfed the gay community, Russo became one of the most ferocious critics of the Reagan administration's response to the epidemic and a tireless advocate for people with AIDS. 

  

A special display of ACT UP archives will be on display before and after the film, with CAP archive volunteers present to answer questions.

Change in HIV Testing at CAP


Clearview Test

After five years of using the OraQuick Advance rapid HIV test, CAP has decided to switch to the Clearview Complete starting in June 2012. This decision was made after a committee of HIV testing staff researched different rapid HIV technologies that are currently FDA approved in the U.S.

 

The Clearview Complete offers rapid HIV test results in only 15 minutes compared to the 20 minute results with OraQuick. This 5 minute window will allow CAP staff to potentially test more clients at their busier clinics such as Pivot and the Clackamas County Jail. The accuracy of the Clearview Complete is similar to the OraQuick Advance. However, the Clearview Complete means no more oral swab option for clients, as it is a finger stick-only rapid test. After surveying clients, CAP found them to be overwhelmingly accepting of the change. Additionally, the switch in testing technology will save CAP almost $4.00 per HIV test -- which means our testing resources will stretch farther and allow us to test more people.

 

Click here for more information about Clearview Complete. 

9th Annual Harm Reduction Conference
Harm Reduction Conference
The National Harm Reduction Conference is the only multidisciplinary conference focused on improving the health of drug users. Over a thousand people from around the country will meet to address the many critical issues affecting the drug user community including overdose, HIV, hepatitis, incarceration and stigma. Physicians, medical professionals, policy makers, researchers, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis service agencies, organizations providing services for youth, and the homeless, as well as community based and advocacy organizations, will be at this much anticipated event.

 

Thursday, November 15, 2012 - Sunday, November 18, 2012 

Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront Hotel

 

CAP participates on the conference local organizing committee. If you currently receive CAP services and would like to attend the conference, please contact Amanda Hurley at 503.278.3840.

May 19th: National Hepatitis Testing Day

May 19, 2012 is
 national Hepatitis Testing Day. It is a day for people at risk to be tested, and for health care providers to educate patients about chronic viral hepatitis and testing. An estimated 3.5 - 5.3 million Americans have chronic hepatitis; up to 75% do not know they are infected, placing them at greater risk for severe, even fatal, complications from the disease and increasing the likelihood that they will spread the virus to others.  
Nat'l Hep Test Day
This new national Hepatitis Testing Day is part of an educational initiative related to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 
Know More Hepatitis campaign.  CDC has also developed an online Hepatitis Risk Assessment to determine a person's hepatitis testing and vaccination recommendations. (You can click through to the assessment by clicking the image at right.)


Coinfection with HIV and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) or hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a growing public health concern. Because the diseases are spread in similar ways -- notably through shared use of needles to inject drugs and sexual activity -- many people are coinfected with HIV and HCV, HIV and HBV, or even all three viruses.

New Board Members at CAP

Cascade AIDS Project's Board of Directors continues to strengthen its reach and expertise by adding two new Board members:  Robert Lusk, MD of Providence Health & Services and Judge Susan M. Svetkey of Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Robert Lusk is a native Texan transplanted to the northwest for the last 19 years.  He received hisRobert Lusk MD undergraduate education at the University of Houston and went to medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.  He finished his Internal Medicine residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch Hospitals, then moved to Portland for a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Oregon Health and Sciences University.  After the fellowship, he worked for 8 years in Salem where he provided HIV care and served as medical director of Willamette Valley Hospice. In 2001 Robert moved to Portland to take a position at the newly created Providence Milwaukie Hospital Family Medicine Residency.  Since 2005 he has served as the associate program director of the Internal Medicine Residency program at Providence Portland Medical Center.  In his practice he cares for many types of infectious diseases, but HIV/AIDS is a large part of his practice.

 

He is active in the community in a variety of volunteer roles.  He has served on the board of Our House of Portland and as their Medical Director for almost 11 years.  He has also been active with the Oregon Repertory Singers, Social Venture Partners Portland and his church. Robert and his partner of 15 years, Christopher Bailey, live in southeast Portland on the slopes of Mt. Tabor.  They enjoy cooking, entertaining friends and bicycling.

 

Judge Susan SvetkeySusan Svetkey is a Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge in the Family Law Department. She has been a donor and supporter of CAP for over 20 years. She currently serves as a Board Member for the Oregon Law Institute and Child Centered Solutions and previously served on the Board of Children's Relief Nursery. Susan's work in the Court offers her opportunities to positively impact the lives of children and families. She established and for over 10 years has administered a court project providing pro bono lawyers and advocacy for children embroiled in domestic disputes. In her judicial work she has at times turned to CAP as a resource for families.  

CAP is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors who represent both the diversity of who the agency serves and the expertise and networks needed to ensure CAP's continued success.  Over 20% of the Board are individuals living with HIV and more than one-third of the Board come from communities of color. A complete list of Board members can be viewed 
here. 
New Staff on CAP's Prevention & Education Team

 

Letty Martinez, HIV Prevention Specialist -- CAP's Prevention & Education Department welcomes Letty Martinez as our newest HIV Prevention Specialist, with a focus on the CDC-funded RESPECT intervention (known locally as Axis). Letty is a Chicago native and uses male and female pronouns interchangeably and respectfully. Letty began doing HIV prevention work at the age of 13 as a peer educator for StopAIDS Chicago's Friday Night Youth Drop In pilot program (originally doing it because they thought passing out condoms on the street would really make their folks angry!). Turns out it has become a career, and Letty has been doing HIV and STD prevention education work ever since, working with a 

Letty Martineznumber of Chicago-based agencies including Howard Brown Health Center. More recently Letty has been working in collaboration with The Chicago Department of Public Health and the Syphilis Elimination Task Force as a Disease Intervention Specialist, providing case management for new syphilis cases and co-infected patients.

 

Letty has lived in Portland before and worked as a patient translator and in patient intake at Outside In for two years, returning this time with her dog Kimbo, who is a joy to all he meets. Letty and Kimbo enjoy long walks and urban adventures. Little known factoids about Letty:  They prefer to spell "letty" in lower case letters, and letty is a veteran of the United States Navy with a medal in marksmanship. 

  

Kyle Ashby, Community Engagement Specialist for Pivot -- A message to the community from Kyle:

 

Kyle AshbyMy name is Kyle Ashby and I wanted to introduce myself to all of you. I'll be the new Community Engagement Specialist for Pivot. In short, this means you'll be seeing me out and about a lot in Portland, hosting and participating in events that speak to gay/bi/trans/M2M issues.  

 

The Community Engagement Specialist is a new feature for the Pivot staff, because we feel like Pivot is an idea about how men connect with other men and themselves. Our space is great for events like our Film Fridays movie series, Oscar Party, and testing three days a week, and we'll certainly see more similar events at Pivot in the future. 

 

Pivot is also an energy we can bring into the community, and that's where I come in. In the coming weeks and months, I look forward to receiving lots of input on how Pivot can better participate in local events and issues.  Do you want to see more of RuPaul's Drag Queens in Portland? Do you want classes on how to build a website or change your oil? What isn't being tackled in the community that you think should be?

 

I'm excited to meet and talk to every one of you. Please feel free to say hi if you see me around town; it's what I'm here for or hit me on e-mail at [email protected]!

Thank You Donors!
Our work at Cascade AIDS Project is only possible thanks to the generous support of thousands of contributors.  While we can't list all of them here, we're grateful for every donation of any size.  Below, we highlight those gifts of over $1,000 received from March 13 to May 4, 2012: 
 
Alexander Thurber Household 
Andrew Altschul and Jacqueline Weissman Household 
Ball Janik LLP 
Bing and Carolyn Sheldon Household 
Brandon Jochim Household 
Brian and Jennifer Gerritz Household 
Brian and Susan Wong Household 
CareOregon 
David Garrett Household 
Diving For Life / Ruby Red Flippers 
Entertainment AIDS Alliance 
Eric Castle and Joanne Luzietti Household 
FamilyCare Inc. 
Fred Meyer 
Global Incentive Group (GIG) 
Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation 
Harold Goldstein and Carol Streeter Household 
Heather and Tod Killough Household 
Janssen Products, LP 
Jeff Miller Household 
Juan Young Trust 
Kaiser Permanente 
Laela Wilding 
LANpro Solutions LLC 
Maria Rojo De Steffey and J. Daniel Steffey Household 
Mark Clift and Jeffrey Knapp Household 
McDonald Jacobs PC 
MOREL INK 
Multnomah Athletic Foundation, Inc. 
Neil Frye Household 
Oregon Department of Revenue 
Oregon Safe Schools and Communities Coalition 
Pacific Power Foundation 
PacificSource Health Plans 
Ray Hickey Foundation 
Sam Adams Household 
Shawn Menashe Household 
Stanley and Joanne Kaplan Household 
Stoel Rives LLP 
The Hedinger Family Foundation 
The Standard 
Ty Stober and Dr. Lamar Bryant Household 
U.S. Bank 
Union Bank Foundation 
Wells Fargo