As of Tuesday, June 29th, 2021, CAP SW WA’s STD Clinic is re-open to the public after a 15 month hiatus. Cascade AIDS Project had been providing low-barrier full panel HIV/STI testing and treatment to the LGBTQ+ community in Vancouver for nearly a decade when COVID-19 hit.

Sex, identity, family, relationships: All of these are topics you talk about with your therapist—and all are intimately related to sexual orientation and gender identity. How can you get help with family issues if your mental-health provider doesn’t understand what it’s like to have a different gender identity than your parents or siblings?

Testing.com, a trusted informational guide for medical lab testing and at-home screening, has recognized Cascade AIDS Project + PIVOT as two of the best community-based organizations in Portland for providing vital services, such as free or low-cost STD testing and treatment, to fight the growing STD epidemic.

HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD) is observed annually on May 18th to recognize and thank all the dedicated volunteers, community members, health professionals, and scientists working together to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV. It is also a day to educate about the importance of preventive HIV vaccine research. A safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine is key to ending the HIV pandemic.

The past year living with COVID has created some incredible logistical and service challenges for nearly everyone, and we at CAP are no exception. With many of our services being client-facing, we have worked to navigate the complexities of continuing to provide these critical services in a way that is safe for both us and our clients.

National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV Awareness Day (NAPIHAAD) is observed on annually on May 19, and it began 16 years ago thanks to a group in California called API Wellness. Up to this point, the faces of the AIDS crisis were predominantly white gay men, and presently, the most at-risk demographic is African American men.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has issued an alert to the public about fraud schemes related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Scammers are using telemarketing calls, text messages, social media platforms, and door-to-door visits to perpetrate COVID-19-related scams.

CAP and Our House have been working in partnership for over 30 years. Together, our two organizations have been exploring how an integration of our programs, services, and administrative operations might maximize our collective capacity to serve people living with, and affected by, HIV in every stage of life, throughout Oregon and SW Washington.

This April 18th we recognize the 6th annual National Transgender HIV Testing Day (NTHTD). NTHTD was created to highlight ways to reduce HIV transmission, HIV stigma and promote routine HIV testing for transgender and gender non-binary folks – population which experience disproportionately high rates of HIV transmission.

Today’s young people are the first generation who have never known a world without HIV and AIDS. In the United States, more than 1 in 5 new HIV diagnosis are young people between 13 and 24 years old. By the end of 2016 around 51 percent of youth living with HIV were unaware that they had HIV.

With COVID drastically impacting many of our direct client services, such as HIV + STI testing, we wanted to take a moment to provide a quick update about testing at CAP and how you can find testing opportunities near you!

I’m writing this open letter on behalf of Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) to first and foremost condemn the racist violence experienced by Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. This event has brought to light that, as an organization, we too have participated in systems that have failed the AAPI community. I want to apologize and acknowledge that our work with and advocacy for your communities in Oregon and SW Washington has been lacking.

Every year on March 10 — and throughout the month of March — local, state, federal, and national organizations come together to shed light on the impact of HIV and AIDS on women and girls and show support for those at risk of and living with HIV. This year marks the 16th annual observance of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD).

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NNHAAD) is a national mobilization effort designed to encourage American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians across the United States and Territorial Areas to get educated, get tested, get involved in prevention and get treated for HIV.

On May 25, 2020 Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, after a convenience store employee called 911 and told the police that Mr. Floyd had bought cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Seventeen minutes after the first squad car arrived at the scene, Mr. Floyd was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers, showing no signs of life. This was not a new moment or scenario in our nation’s history. Countless Black and Brown bodies have been inappropriately profiled, wrongly accused and lost to police brutality before and after this moment. However, it was those 8 minutes and 46 seconds that sparked a racial awakening and literally took the breath from our nation.

The origin of Black History Month goes back to 1915, when Dr. Carter Woodson founded the Study for African American Life and History (previously known as the Study of Negro Life and History). He introduced “Negro History Week” in 1926 to honor the history and recognize the accomplishments of the Black community in the United States.

As you may or may not be aware, vaccine rollout in Oregon is notably well behind the effort of many states across the US, and the Federal distribution plans have been greatly compromised by our previous administration. The first wave of vaccines in Oregon, known as group 1a, was largely focused on vaccination for healthcare and public health workers. It is believed that in Oregon, that was to be somewhere between 300,000 - 400,000 people. This group alone is more people than we currently have vaccine available in the state. This, paired with a lack of effective state planning, resulted some of the chaotic issues we are now seeing.

We are excited to announce we are offering expanded HIV care services at Prism Health. We know better than anyone how quality care and treatment can help those living with HIV maintain an undetectable viral load, but more than that, we also understand how to navigate and coordinate care that you need to not only live, but to thrive. Our providers work collaboratively with you to help you achieve your overall health goals, and we are committed to providing affirming and stigma free care.

Early voting in Georgia’s special election began on Monday. That means between now and January 5 (the actual day of the election), Georgians will decide not only who is going to represent them in the U.S. Senate, but what the balance of power in the Senate will be—and therefore which sorts of federal policy will be enacted in the coming years. It is an election whose impact will reverberate from Atlanta, to D.C., to here in Oregon and Washington, where federal policy has a concrete effect on how CAP serves our program participants.

Although the pandemic has affected us in different ways, there seems to be little doubt that the average person’s mental health in the United States has declined. At a time when family and friends are normally the closest, this year, they will be farther away. That's why taking a proactive approach to insuring our mental health is more important than ever as we enter the holiday season. With that in mind, we wanted to share a few tips to keep you feeling the seasonal spirit and ensure you have the best virtual holidays this year!