MEDIA ADVISORY
July 25, 2016
Living with HIV/AIDS: Showcase of Artwork as Therapy
Gala Hispanic Theater in Washington, D.C.,
August 6, 2016 from 7:30-9:30 PM
Artwork as home-based therapy for District residents with HIV/AIDS will be showcased at an event featuring the artists and HIV H.O.P.E., a program made possible through a District of Columbia Department of Health grant, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, and MedStar Health Research Institute. Through HIV H.O.P.E., more than 450 home visits have been conducted and approximately 75 percent of the enrolled, high-risk HIV patients have been able to regain control of their infection.
The collaborators launched HIV H.O.P.E. to provide homecare visits for HIV-infected patients at risk for falling out of care. Barriers to care are assessed during intensive home-care visits with a nurse and community-health worker. Routine blood draws are conducted along with virtual visits with a physician using an iPad and secure telemedicine connection. Art therapy is a new component that patients say has provided support and been a great outlet for them.
At the gala, each piece of art will be accompanied by an expression from the artist that describes how the art is representative of their life with HIV. Howard Perry, an HIV HOPE patient says his work shows, “My life was split in two: there is the side of me that most people see and the other side of me living with HIV.”
Available for interview:
- Patient artists - Howard Parry, Glenn Conrad, and James Page
- Glenn Wortmann, MD, is section director of Infectious Diseases at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and program director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program. He is also the Principal Investigator of the HIV H.O.P.E. grant.
- Antonio Pineda is the HIV Clinic’s Treatment Navigator, in which he coordinates patients’ appointments, manages the flow of the out-patients ID Clinic, assists with referrals for social needs, such as housing, emergency assistance, arranging interpreters, and coordinating dental and mental health appointments.
- Cleo Johnson, RN, provides homecare services to patients that have uncontrolled HIV viral loads. The services that are provided to the patients and family members are disease education, medications and side effects and resistance.