The Haven will provide comfort, resources for those with HIV/AIDS
Krista Thayer is manager of The Haven, which opened Sunday, Feb. 7, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. (Daja E. Henry/Daily Memphian)
Friends for Life, an organization that works to prevent the spread of HIV and provides support to HIV-positive people, opened The Haven, its outreach and support center, Sunday, Feb. 7, near the University of Memphis.
The center at 622 Minor Road will provide free HIV testing, Hepatitis C testing, programming aimed at reducing the stigma associated with HIV, and access to PrEP and PEP drugs, which are used to prevent HIV.
Anthony Hardaway is the prevention outreach specialist at The Haven, which is operated by Friends for Life at 622 Minor Road near the University of Memphis. (Daja E. Henry/Daily Memphian)
But the center is also designed to be a place for people to relax, have a good time, and talk about their stressors, said Krista Thayer, The Haven’s manager.
Thayer and her team kicked off opening day with a preview of the new center, which is not only bigger than its previous location Downtown, but located in a place that allows greater access to college students, who are more likely to be unaware of their HIV status.
Opening day was also National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a holiday first marked in 1999 as part of a grassroots effort to raise awareness of the disproportionate impact of HIV on communities of color.
As of 2018, there were about 6,090 people in Memphis living with HIV, according to statistics compiled by the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. Of those people, 84% were Black.
Workers at The Haven gave out condoms and educational materials about sexual health at the opening event Sunday, Feb. 7. (Daja E. Henry/Daily Memphian)
According to the latest Centers for Disease Control numbers available, Memphis and Shelby County had a rate of 690 per 100,000 people living with HIV. That is more than double the national average of 280.
“The Haven is here to lift our community up,” said Anthony Hardaway, prevention outreach specialist, in a press release. “We want to connect, educate and empower our community, and help provide reliable access to the support and strength people need to live their best lives.”
Thayer and her team are working to fight the stigma surrounding HIV and provide education on sexual health practices.
“It’s very important with stigma in our communities, because not a lot of people are knowledgeable about HIV, LGBT-plus community issues,” Thayer said. “The more we know, the less we’ll stigmatize each other.”
Through Friends for Life, they have also done food and clothing giveaways, and needle exchanges to prevent the spread of HIV.
Topics
The Haven LGBTQ Friends For Life HIV HIV/AIDSDaja E. Henry
Daja E. Henry is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. She is a graduate of Howard University and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and currently is a general assignment reporter.
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