On our final episode of 2022, we are joined by a very special guest: Brenda Chambers. Brenda is a participant in CAP's Aging Well program and is a long-term survivor of HIV. Listen as she tells her story of being a grandmother, a caregiver, a friend, and a peer to her community, and don't miss hearing how she is leveraging her 18 years in recovery to support and mentor others through their healing journeys. We hope you find Brenda's Story as moving as we do, and if so, consider supporting the programs that provide these critical services to our clients and community by making a one-time or recurring gift.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Welcome to Vibrant, an affirming healthcare podcast from CAP, Our House and Prism Health. I'm your host, Dustin Vance, and I'll be here sitting down with folks across our agency to get the inside scoop on the work they do to provide compassionate, affirming care to all those in our community. Let's get the show started.

Dustin: Hey, folks, welcome back for another episode. We're very excited to have you here with us! This month, you're in for a special treat as we are joined today by Brenda Chambers, one of the amazing program participants of our Aging Well program. And Brenda is going to come on and tell us a little bit about her life and share a bit about her experience in the Aging Well program. Welcome, Brenda, thank you so much for joining us today! We're really excited to have you here and to get a chance to sit down with you and talk with you and hear your story. So I guess to get started, could you maybe just give us a quick introduction to who you are and tell us a bit about yourself?

Brenda: Okay. I'm Brenda Chambers, and I am a mother of four. One of them is an angel. And I’m a grandmother of ten and a great grandmother of one. And I am a social worker and a peer support person. That's what I'm doing professionally, and I'm going to school to be a drug and alcohol counselor. And I'm a woman living with HIV.

Dustin: Wow, thank you so much for that great introduction, Brenda. I've had the pleasure of reading your story so far, and I've gotten to learn a lot about you. But for those of our audience members who haven't, could you maybe tell us a bit about your life and how you came to be where you are today? I know you mentioned you had some grandkids and maybe they were an influence on you moving out to Oregon, so we would just love to hear a little bit about your life and your journey so far.

Brenda: About three years ago, my son called me up and told me that my youngest grandson, who has autism, was struggling and he needed some help with him. And so I put things in storage and came up to live with them and be with my youngest grandson so that he could have some help… I had some knowledge that I could help give to my son so they could work with my grandson. And he was nonverbal when I moved in, and he is now verbal, which is amazing! He has some really good speech therapists and occupational therapists that are helping him a great deal, which is why I moved out, was because they no longer had need of me and I could move on with my life.

Dustin: Well, thank you so much for sharing that with us and for all of the work you did to help your grandson through that period of his life. And wow, what an amazing transformation that you made happen, right? And now he's verbal…that's amazing. So as you decided to move out and kind of move in on your own, it sounds like that was also around the time that COVID-19 impacted all of us dramatically. So could you tell us a bit about what that experience was like?

Brenda: It was kind of a hard time because I moved from a city where I had a support network and many friends. I lived there for 40 years, so I had a great many friends and I did things with them and I had an HIV positive women's support group and I moved here and I lived on the coast just outside of a small town that doesn't even have a stoplight in it, and we lived on a farm. And so there was like, no one for me to talk to, no one to go do things with. And so I was cut off, essentially. And it was actually pretty hard. I spent a great deal of my time with my grandson, but there were still times I was alone and I felt cut off from the world. And I don't remember exactly how I got in touch with Cascades Project, but Jim and Craig extended an invitation for me to join their aging well group, which met online. And every Wednesday, I would tune in, and I got to meet some of the people. And one of them actually has become one of my very dearest friends here in Portland. And he's helped me a great deal. But, yeah, I love the people in the Aging Well community. They've become some of my really good friends here.

Dustin: Yeah, that's amazing. I've had a wonderful opportunity to work with both Craig and Jim and the Aging Well program as a whole, and it's just been an incredible experience both professionally and personally. And it's also wonderful to get to see all of you out in the community during Pride and coming out to AIDS Walk and just seeing the vibrancy that's alive and well there that you all are cultivating. Could you tell us maybe some of the activities or program kind of things that you all do as part of Aging Well in building community together?

Brenda: Well, a lot of it is just a community of people. We don't have an agenda when it comes to talking. We don't have like a word of the day or anything. We just get to talk about what's going on with us and caring about each other. And that goes a long way, especially if you feel cut off, which is a real problem for people living with HIV anyway. And then as you age, you get that feeling too. And then I was cut off from everybody, so it was actually a godsend to me. I had felt so alone and they included me in everything. Even though I was outside the service area, they reached out to me anyway, and that was to me was huge. They included me regardless and saved me for myself. Actually, we do get togethers on thursday nights, happy hour. We do the wednesday get togethers online. Right now, we're going to be moving to in person, and then we have monday night get togethers, too, where we just talk. These things are vital to my sanity, actually. They help me stay centered so I can do all the other things in my life because I feel like I'm not alone, and it makes a big difference in my life.

Dustin: I mean, I can only imagine. I know all of us can definitely relate to that feeling of moving somewhere new and not knowing anyone and trying to learn how to rebuild a community of friends and chosen families. So I think you're definitely not alone there. But I'm so happy to hear that agent well has been that kind of place for you to help grow those meaningful friendships and relationships. One thing I love about cap and our house and Prism Health is our focus on wraparound services and ensuring folks have access to all of the things that they need in one place. So I'm curious, are there any other services you've accessed through cap or our house or prism health during your time participating in aging?

Brenda: Well, I actually have I had mentioned that I couldn't come up with my deposit for my apartment. I had housing, so I was able to get into an apartment, but I couldn't get the deposit for it. And jim had said that there was a program here at cap that would help me with the deposit so that I could get into a place of my own, which I love my family, but it was nice to have my own place again. It helped me to move forward in my life, and it was a substantial amount. So it really helped me because I couldn't have come up with that. It was double the amount of what I get per month, and so there would be no way I could come up with it on my own. And so it saved me. Basically. I wouldn't have been able to get an apartment. I love my new apartment. I love where I live. People are so friendly. It's so nice. It's nothing like living in salt lake. Salt lake was kind of people are not as friendly as they are here in oregon.

Dustin: Oh, well, we're very glad to have you here, and I'm so glad to hear that everything is working out and that you've built this vibrant, caring, loving, welcoming community around you. So I'd love to hear maybe what's going on in your world now, and what does the future hold for brenda chamber is going forward?

Brenda: Well, I just started working at lifeline connections in vancouver, and I'm also working this is a part time job, and I'm also working on call for telecare. And so I've got two little jobs they're really part time for. Like telecare is just whenever they need somebody on night shift. And I'm working two night shift jobs at Lifeline Connections as well. And I'm going to school and hopefully in the next year I'll have my degree in drug and alcohol counseling, so I'll be able to do what I set out to do. To begin with, when I got my degree in social work, I wanted to work with people who have addiction problems because I have 18 years of clean and sobertime and I want to help other people to achieve that. I think it's really important and I think that with my help, that other people would be able to find a way through sobriety and find a way through mental health as well because I've struggled with that in my own way. I had depression really bad, and then after my son was murdered, I really had a bout with depression and had electroshock therapy. And so I know what it's like to go through a mental health struggle. And I hear I said doing well, and I believe with help, anyone can do that. They can do better than what they're doing if they have just have someone who cares, and that's what I'm good at.

Dustin: It sure sounds like it. I mean, from your grandson to the folks who want to help through counseling and drug addiction, it sounds to me like you have a huge impact on our community and we're very lucky to have you here. So speaking of impact on our community, is there anything you want to leave our audience with as we close out today? Or any final thoughts for anyone?

Brenda: I just want people to know how much Tap has come to mean to me. The fact that they're there for all of us and that the things that they do for people help support us in doing what we want to do with our lives. And it helps to cut the stigma that comes along with having HIV, which is huge still. But yeah, I'm eternally grateful for the help that they've given me the last three years since I've moved to Oregon. I'm overwhelmed with how much they've helped I can't even put it in words because it is so much.

Dustin: Well, thank you so much again for joining us today and sharing your story and a little bit of your life with us. I know it can be really vulnerable to share our personal lives in a format like this, so thank you for being here with us and trusting us with your story. But also thank you for all of the work you're doing to give back to our community in such meaningful, impactful ways and really advancing the need for more comprehensive and compassionate mental health care and well being. So I'm looking forward to hearing more about you in the future.

Brenda: Oh, thank you. Thank you. I really enjoy my work. It means a lot to me to share because that's sharing is caring.

Outro: Well, that's our show for today, folks. Thanks so much for tuning in and we can't wait to share another episode next, if you have any questions, comments or concerns in the meantime, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at comms at cap and w.org. Until then, stay vibrant.

About Cascade AIDS Project

CAP is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis. As the oldest and largest community-based HIV services provider in Oregon and southwest Washington, we seek to support and empower all people with or affected by HIV, reduce stigma, and provide the LGBTQ+ community with compassionate healthcare. We do so by helping to ensure the health and well-being of our program participants each year through health, housing, and other social services. When the need for affordable, accessible, and culturally affirming primary care services was identified as a community need, we responded by opening Prism Health in 2017.  More information can be found at www.capnw.org.