PRESS RELEASES
PRESS RELEASES
Here’s the latest from our agency.
Emily Gilliland to Serve as Interim CEO of Cascade AIDS Project
With the announcement of Dr. Tyler TerMeer’s departure as CEO from Cascade AIDS Project to helm San Francisco AIDS Foundation, we are excited to announce that Emily Gilliland will serve as the Interim CEO of CAP!
Emily Gilliland has extensive experience in building and managing strong, high impact organizations at the local, state and national levels. Emily is a creative individual with demonstrated success building effective teams and sustainable organizations centered in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice through effective strategy, managed implementation, and collaboration within and across communities. As President and CEO of Camp Fire Columbia, Emily led a team of 200 staff engaging over 3,000 young people in the community.
Accomplishments at Camp Fire Columbia included:
Deepened Camp Fire’s commitment to diversity, equity and closing the achievement gap for Students of Color including passing an equity statement with unanimous support from the Board, developing and implementing an equity lens, and leading change management to center functions in racial justice. (http://campfirecolumbia.org/about-us/equity-statement/)
Grew organization budget 150% through expanding community partnerships with families, schools, nonprofit partners, and funders – addressing the social-emotional and academic needs of youth while addressing food insecurity and advocacy to dismantle systems of oppression, address root causes of poverty, and move towards equity.
Completed capital needs assessment, capital improvement plan, and sustainable forestry strategy for Camp Namanu
.Oversight and leadership of camp operations including food, water, septic, staffing, facilities, regulatory compliance, health and safety, as well as emergency response for 2,100 campers and staff.
Redesigned HR processes including hiring, onboarding, employee handbook, performance management, and progressive discipline
.Selection and implementation of new fundraising, accounting, and data tracking systems.
Her experience also includes lead content development for the first launch of freedomcorps.gov, the White House’s landmark volunteerism website, creating Portland State University’s first certificate in service learning as well as serving as Executive Director of Oregon Campus Compact then HandsOn Network, a network of over 250 volunteer centers. Emily holds a philosophy degree from Indiana University and a master’s in liberal arts from St. John’s College.
Emily joins the team with an existing connection to CAP from her work as a consultant with the organization over the last year where she served as the project manager and liaison between CAP and Our House of Portland in the merger process, as well as from her support of our HIV Prevention Department as their interim department supervisor, and from her supportive role with our People and Culture department over the last year. Please join us in welcoming Emily to the CAP family and wishing her success in this new role!
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.
About Prism Health
Prism Health provides high quality, affordable, and accessible health care for all, with a focus on serving individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus all other gender and sexual minorities (LGBTQ+). All of Prism services aim to reach the most vulnerable – those living below the poverty line, communities of color, homeless or unstably housed individuals, and people experiencing mental health and/or addiction issues.
Personal Message from Dr. TerMeer Regarding CEO Transition
As a person living with and concerned about HIV, I am enormously grateful to have spent the past 7.5 years of my career nurturing a vibrant and powerful community for social and racial justice at Cascade AIDS Project (CAP). It is therefore with mixed emotions that I announce my plans to step down as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to start a new chapter at one of our nation’s oldest and most influential HIV Organizations – San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) - where I have been appointed their next CEO and notably the first BIPOC person to serve in this role in SFAF’s nearly 40-year history. My last day at CAP will be January 28th.
I’ve been a donor and supporter of SFAF for over a decade through my participation in the AIDS/LifeCycle. I couldn’t pass up the amazing opportunity to work with the Foundation in San Francisco as I continue my life’s work to promote health, wellness and social justice for all those impacted by HIV. However, leaving is bittersweet.
It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to be at the helm of CAP over the last 7.5 years. It has truly been rewarding beyond measure. I am proud to have served people affected by HIV, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the bravest and most brilliant colleagues I have ever known, and worked to advance system changes with incalculable positive impact for people and communities that have traditionally been furthest from access and opportunity. My time at CAP has helped me grow as an individual and as a leader and for that I will be eternally grateful and so very proud of all we have accomplished together.
There is never an easy time for a CEO to announce their departure, especially for an organization as innovative as CAP. We are in a time of such great momentum, with so many exciting new initiatives under way and on the horizon. Since that first day that I walked into the doors of CAP in 2014, we have grown from a staff of 55 to 185, from one office in downtown Portland to now post-merger having seven locations across two states, and we have quadrupled the budget of $5.5 million to what will be closer to $24 million post-merger. We are stronger and more resilient. We are more sustainable with greater infrastructure. We are owning the mistakes of our past and investing in critical Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) work. We are further reaching and creating greater impact for all those seeking compassionate care!
With your support we were able to launch Prism Health, Oregon’s premiere LGBTQ+ health center, provide affirming and welcoming primary care. In response to COVID-19, we partnered with Esther’s Pantry to address food insecurity, and increased emergency rental assistance and medical motel vouchers. Recently, we championed the Data Justice Act and made Oregon the first state to require data collection of a patient’s race, ethnicity, language, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity to help address health disparities. And on January 1st the merger with Our House of Portland will be complete, which will consolidate resources and enable us to provide greater assistance to those living with HIV in Oregon and SW Washington.
Emily Gilliland will serve as the interim CEO while the CAP Board of Directors conducts a national search for the next CEO. The search committee will include members of CAP staff, stakeholders and the LGBTQIA+ community. The goal is to hire a new CEO by the Fall of 2022.
CAP is incredibly fortunate to rely on a talented staff and deep bench of stalwart leaders who advance our mission every day through their contributions in and out of our organization. I have the utmost confidence that the amazing work and impact of CAP, Our House of Portland, and Prism Health and all of the exciting new initiatives planned in 2022 and beyond will continue to thrive and move forward during this leadership transition.
CAP is poised to continue its momentum and growth with a clear strategic plan, equity plan, and business growth plan for Prism Health. Although I’ll miss being part of that work, I am confident that you’ll get the job done and exceed all expectations. We’ll hold a gathering before I leave (TBD) and I hope to see you in person.
Thank you for letting me be part of your success.
Dr. Tyler TerMeer
A Note from the CAP Board President, Karol Collymore:
“It's been an honor for me to work with and support Tyler for over seven years at CAP and Prism Health. To watch this organization blossom into a healthcare leader in Oregon and Southwest Washington with Tyler at the helm is incredible and solidifies that care centered around LGBTQIA+ communities can lead to valuable change. I'm sad to see him leave but so proud of his next professional journey.”
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.
About Prism Health
Prism Health provides high quality, affordable, and accessible health care for all, with a focus on serving individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus all other gender and sexual minorities (LGBTQ+). All of Prism services aim to reach the most vulnerable – those living below the poverty line, communities of color, homeless or unstably housed individuals, and people experiencing mental health and/or addiction issues.
Prism Slated to Receive Congressional Funding for LGBTQ+ Mental Healthcare
Congress is expected to allocate more than $800,000 to Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) later this year for a major expansion of the mental-health program at our LGBTQ+ health center, Prism Health. The funds were included in the 2021-22 federal budget at the request of U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer. CAP was one of only 10 organizations selected to receive funding after being nominated by Rep. Blumenauer.
Our organization will use the funds to hire several new staff members, including two new psychotherapists and a nurse practitioner specializing in psychiatric medicine. These additional providers will help Prism meet the high demand for safe, welcoming, and knowledgeable LGBTQ+ mental healthcare by expanding our mental-health patient capacity by at least 33%. They will also expand our capacity for prescribing and managing drugs to treat mental-health conditions, including substance-use disorder.
Research shows that LGBTQ+ people are more likely than the general population to experience mental-health issues. For example, almost twice as many lesbian, gay, and bisexual Oregonians as straight Oregonians report having frequent mental distress, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning youth in Oregon are five times more likely than their heterosexual peers to report having attempted suicide in the past year.
Despite these disparities, Oregon bisexuals, gays, and lesbians are less likely than straight people to have any regular healthcare provider. Even in LGBTQ-friendly Multnomah County, a 2018 study of the mental-health system noted that “it is still difficult to find providers who can be responsive to [LGBTQ+ people’s] needs across the service continuum.”
Prism began offering mental-health services in 2019 to help fill this gap. Today, the program serves almost 300 patients, more than 90% of whom identify with a sexual or gender minority. “For too long, mental health care, especially for the LGBTQ+ community, has been stigmatized, underfunded, and difficult to come by,” Rep. Blumenauer said in a statement. “Here in Oregon, Prism Health is working to fix this. I’m proud to support their efforts to expand access and improve the quality of mental health care for the LGBTQ+ community.”
For more information, please contact CAP’s Public Policy & Grants Manager, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, at jfrochtzwajg@capnw.org or (503) 278-3852.
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.
About Prism Health
Prism Health provides high quality, affordable, and accessible health care for all, with a focus on serving individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus all other gender and sexual minorities (LGBTQ+). All of Prism services aim to reach the most vulnerable – those living below the poverty line, communities of color, homeless or unstably housed individuals, and people experiencing mental health and/or addiction issues.
CAP + Our House are Moving in Together!
Dear Friends and Supporters,
After more than 30 years of collaboration and a shared mission, Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) and Our House are finally moving in together. Unifying our two organizations will allow us to better serve and support the needs of our community, while also expanding our vision of care.
We appreciate all your support along our ever-evolving journey to stifle stigma, provide compassionate care and end suffering for individuals with HIV and AIDS.
Together under one roof, we will continue to serve and support our community. This strategic partnership will allow us to reach new communities, restructure our existing services to meet the evolving needs of individuals living with HIV and AIDS and the LGBTQ+ community, and ensure all in our community have access to the help they need at the right time.
Never have our programs, our services and our ability to be flexible in the ways we define and provide care been more important than they are now. We will continue to ensure that our community is receiving the entire spectrum of HIV services such as awareness and prevention education, testing and linkage, housing stability and long-term complex, specialized care. We see this as an opportunity to re-evaluate the ways we provide care and discover new strategies through which we can continue to thrive.
There are many ways to get involved in this exciting next chapter and we hope you will join us as we evolve together under one roof.
With gratitude,
Oregon House Passes CAP-Backed Bill to Give Pharmacists the Ability to Prescribe PrEP
A bill that would give pharmacists in Oregon the ability to write prescriptions for PrEP passed out of the Oregon House on Tuesday with overwhelming support. Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) is leading the effort to pass the legislation, which would make Oregon the third state in the country to enable pharmacists to prescribe PrEP, as well as HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
House Bill 2958 would remove key barriers to pharmacists prescribing PrEP by making clear that pharmacists have the authority to perform an HIV test, requiring insurers to reimburse pharmacists for PrEP screening & counseling, and mandating that most insurers cover at least one form of PrEP without forcing prescribers to obtain approval first. If the legislation passes out of the Oregon Senate and is signed by Governor Kate Brown, Oregonians who need PrEP will be able to get a starter supply of the medication in a single visit to any Oregon pharmacist trained in PrEP prescription.
PrEP is a powerful tool in the effort to end the HIV epidemic, but it is not nearly as accessible as it must be for those at highest risk of HIV infection, including Black and Latinx people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 44% of those who could benefit from PrEP are Black, and 25% are Latinx, but less than 1% of those prescribed PrEP are from these communities. Pharmacist-prescribed PrEP expands the availability of HIV prevention medication to populations that the traditional healthcare system is not reaching well.
The Oregon House passed HB 2958 on a 47-7 vote, with Representative Dacia Grayber of Tigard and Representative Rob Nosse of Southeast Portland serving as chief sponsors. Despite the fact that the bill seeks to improve access to PrEP for residents of rural Oregon, a number of representatives of rural areas voted against it: Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis of the Albany area, Rep. Jami Cate of Lebanon, Rep. Bill Post of Keizer, Rep. Daniel Bonham of The Dalles; Rep. Vikki Rep. Breese Iverson of Prineville, Rep. Werner Reschke of Klamath Falls, and Rep. Duane Stark of Grants Pass. The legislation now awaits a hearing in the Senate Committee on Health Care.
For more information, contact CAP’s Public Policy & Grants Manager, Jonathan Frochtzwajg, at jfrochtzwajg@capnw.org.
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.
Announcing CAP's New Strategic Plan
We are delighted to share our new strategic plan with you!
Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) and its health program, Prism Health, have developed our strategic plan to inform and guide our important work over the next three years. The plan was developed to prioritize the work that addresses identified community needs within an evolving healthcare and social policy environment.
The process of conducting strategic planning has allowed CAP to proactively assess the external and internal environment for emerging trends, expectations, and issues. The resulting plan builds on and enhances our capacity to nurture a culture that supports health, wellness, and community responsibility for taking care of each other, and the individuals and families we serve.
Our strategy over the next three years will not only focus on increasing access to services but transforming how those services are delivered in order to improve health outcomes, participant satisfaction as well as the efficiency of service delivery. We see our role as working to dismantle barriers to health equity, and our ongoing commitment is to ensure that equity remains an integral part of our internal culture and external mission. We take pride in the initiatives highlighted in this report, and we extend our deepest gratitude to our dedicated staff, Board Members, and community partners for the role they all play in our continued success.
We are excited for what’s to come and look forward to enhancing our services to meet the growing demands of the communities we serve.
In Solidarity,
Tyler TerMeer, PhD Chief Executive Officer
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.
About Prism Health
Prism Health provides high quality, affordable, and accessible health care for all, with a focus on serving individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus all other gender and sexual minorities (LGBTQ+). All of Prism services aim to reach the most vulnerable – those living below the poverty line, communities of color, homeless or unstably housed individuals, and people experiencing mental health and/or addiction issues.
HIV Organizations Announce Racial Justice Index To Remedy Disconnect Between HIV Leadership And Community Impact
Leading up to National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, AIDS United and its Public Policy Council, composed of 55 of the nation's leading organizations dedicated to ending HIV, are announcing they have launched the Racial Justice Index. AIDS United is working collaboratively with the Black AIDS Institute, a Public Policy Council member, to guide this work. After the summer of 2020 that ushered in a racial reckoning in America, this novel initiative aims to create awareness — and eventually sustainable change — around the misalignment between who holds power and resources in HIV organizations and the epidemic’s disproportionate impact on Black Americans.
The Racial Justice Index is part of a series of outcomes that emerged from more than two years of conversations led by leaders of color among the Public Policy Council and was made more urgent by the national outcry for racial justice. In June 2020, AIDS United, along with 53 members of its Public Policy Council and more than 20 other HIV organizations, issued an open letter to all elected officials calling for all policies to be enacted through a racial justice and equity framework. The Index’s mission is to assess and improve the HIV sector’s commitment to racial equity by creating assessment tools and resources to combat anti-Black racism and other forms of racism that will first be analyzed in PPC organizations and then the HIV sector. This includes hiring practices, leadership, talent retention and decision-making in the HIV movement. The Index’smethodical implementation process will seek to onboard HIV organizations to respond to an online national survey that will inform a publicly-released report, which will facilitate critical leadership conversations among HIV stakeholders.
The initiative will be guided by the Racial Justice Index Committee, a committee formed out of AIDS United’s Public Policy Council and co-chaired by Raniyah Copeland, president and CEO of Black AIDS Institute, and A. Toni Young, CEO, Community Education Group — nationally renowned Black leaders in the HIV community. The PPC and the Index committee are managed by Carl Baloney Jr., AIDS United vice president for policy and advocacy. AIDS United Board members, Dr. Kimberley Jeffries Leonard, president of Links Inc., and Dr. David Holtgrave, Dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health, SUNY, have also been instrumental in assisting in the creation of the Index. The committee includes HIV service and advocacy organizations from across the country. The work of the Racial Justice Index will first assess how leadership in the HIV movement reflects the communities most impacted and will later aim to provide training and capacity building to root out white supremacy in HIV organizations’ work.
As a Black man living with HIV, I am very proud of our diverse coalition of organizations making this commitment to racial justice. Since the start of the HIV epidemic, AIDS United has played an active role to ensure that all who are living with and vulnerable to HIV receive the care they need. We are in a moment where the HIV sector — and the health care sector as a whole — must look inward and ask ourselves if our structures and decisions truly reflect the people and needs of those most impacted by the epidemic. The Public Policy Council has always pushed for responsiveness and inclusiveness across the HIV sector. This carries that work forward in these pressing times when health inequities are at our nation's forefront. We cannot end HIV without ending the systemic racism that is too often embedded in processes that result in the disparities in new infections and lack of access to care. I know it is time for change, and we are eager to put in the required work to end racist inequities and the imprint of systemic racism in our sector.
Jesse Milan Jr., President and CEO, AIDS United
For 21 years, the Black AIDS Institute has led the fight to end HIV from a uniquely and unapologetically Black lens. With Black Empowerment as a central value, our leadership and our staff represent the communities we serve. By partnering with AIDS United and drawing from the intersectional expertise of the 55 Public Policy Council organizations, the Racial Justice Index will catalyze the prioritization of Black leadership, resource allocation, and capacity building. If we are committed to ending HIV within our lifetimes, rectifying the stain of white supremacy in how we do our work must be of the utmost priority.
Raniyah Copeland, President and CEO, Black AIDS Institute, co-chair of AIDS United’s Racial Justice Index Committee
HIV, HCV and Substance Use Disorder rage through Black and poor rural communities across the United States, it is critical the organizations are equipped to address the needs or Black people in the rural and Southern communities. The Racial Index will provide a tool for organizations to better develop staff and meet the growing needs of Black and brown communities.
A. Toni Young, Founder and Executive Director, Community Education Group, co-chair of AIDS United’s Racial Justice Index Committee
We are proud of the AIDS United Public Policy Council for deepening our commitment to racial justice through the important and urgent work to create the racial justice index. This initiative will help us examine the HIV sector's commitment to racial equity and empower us all with the resources needed to end the HIV epidemic, starting with our own organizations.
AIDS United Public Policy Council Co-Chairs Bill Keeton, Vivent Health vice president and chief advocacy officer, and Dr. Tyler TerMeer, Cascade AIDS Project Chief Executive Officer
On National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I join AIDS United’s Public Policy Council to celebrate the launch of the Racial Justice Index, an initiative designed for HIV service organizations to conduct internal reviews aimed at eliminating racist structures, policies, and hiring practices within them. The HIV/AIDS epidemic’s disproportionate impact on Black Americans is rooted in systemic racism and the Racial Justice Index provides a tool for HIV organizations to reassess their internal structures. The Racial Justice Index is a much needed mechanism to center racial equity at the core of the HIV sector’s commitment to ending the HIV epidemic.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Co-Chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus
I applaud AIDS United for launching the Racial Justice Index on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a devastating impact uponAfrican Americans and other communities of color. In order for AIDS service and advocacy organizations to effectively address these devastating disparities, they must accurately reflect the demographics of the people who need their services.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters
ABOUT AIDS UNITED
AIDS United’s mission is to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. through strategic grant- making, capacity building and policy. AIDS United works to ensure access to life-saving HIV care and prevention services and to advance sound HIV-related policy for populations and communities most impacted by the U.S. epidemic. To date, AIDS United’s strategic grant-making initiatives have directly funded more than $104 million to local communities and have leveraged more than $117 million in additional investments for programs that include, but are not limited to, HIV prevention, access to care, capacity building, harm reduction and advocacy. Learn more at www.aidsunited.org
ABOUT BLACK AIDS INSTITUTE
Founded in 1999, Black AIDS Institute (BAI) is the only uniquely and unapologetically Black think and do tank in America. Our mission is “to stop the AIDS epidemic in Black communities by engaging and mobilizing Black institutions and individuals to confront HIV.” Black Empowerment is our central theme and we are led by people who represent the issues we serve. We source our capacity building, mobilization, and advocacy efforts from Black leaders and communities across the country, and provide culturally respectful, high-quality, HIV prevention and care services for Black people in Los Angeles. Learn more at https://blackaids.org
ABOUT AIDS UNITED PUBLIC POLICY COUNCIL
AIDS United’s Public Policy Council is the nation’s largest and longest-running policy coalition of community-based HIV organizations. Supported by the AIDS United Policy Department,
Learn more at www.aidsunited.org
PRESS CONTACT for BLACK AIDS INSTITUTE:
Michelle Huff Elliott | Simone Smalls
Strategic Heights Media media@strategicheights.com 212-634-7176
PRESS CONTACT for AIDS UNITED
Warren Gill
AIDS United wgill@aidsunited.org
Affirming our Commitment to Safe, Compassionate, And High-Quality care for the BIPOC & LGBTQIA+ Community
Historically, during times of great unrest, it is often our most diverse communities that experience compounded hardship. From the stress of overloaded systems rife with inequity to blatant and targeted harassment of people in our community.
Sadly, we’ve seen that Portland is not immune. As a local nonprofit healthcare provider , Prism Health stands firm in our commitment to offer a safe, affirming, and non-judgmental space where all members of the all members of the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community can obtain the compassionate and culturally effective health care they need and deserve.
Our facility was designed in strategic partnership with members from our Black Trans community to ensure a level of cultural competence, comfort and functionality that benefits everyone, especially those who the current systems consistently and repeatedly underserve.
We prioritize inclusivity to insure that all members of the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community can access affirming and high-quality health care. Patients do not have to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer to receive care, but services will focus on addressing the sensitive issues of sexual and gender minorities and their families and friends.
Our clinic serves all patients regardless of ability to pay. No one will be denied services based on gender identity, sexual orientation, race, nationality, or religious affiliation. We offer a sliding fee for all based on family size and income. Please ask at the reception desk.
Our doors are open. We are committed to your health and safety. We are committed to accountability. We are committed to continuing to build a medical community that is trustworthy, reliable and accessible. And we are committed to you, our community!
It is with these commitments that we move forward into this time of great social and political change with gratitude and intention to be at your service.
About Prism Health
Prism Health is a nonprofit LGBTQIA+ health center in the Pacific Northwest providing comprehensive primary care. As a division of Cascade AIDS Project, Prism Health leverages CAP’s decades of LGBTQIA+ health experience to address the wide range of health issues disproportionately impacting our community. The southeast Portland clinic features primary care, mental health, and pharmacy services—all in a space where queer people can be sure they will feel safe, welcome, and understood from the moment they walk in the door. For more information, please visit www.prismhealth.org.
For People Living With HIV, A New Public Health Crisis In COVID-19
©2020 OPB. All Rights Reserved
CAP CEO Tyler TerMeer had the pleasure of talking with OPB’s Crystal Ligori for a segment of OPB’s “All Things Considered”. To hear the entire conversation with Tyler and Crystal, use the audio player at the top of this page. We have also attached a copy of the article written by Crystal Ligori and Jenn Chavez below for your convenience. The original copy of this interview, including the audio conversation, can be found here.
With the spread of coronavirus in the Pacific Northwest, many health care and social services have shifted more toward telemedicine and virtual support in order to maintain social distancing.
That includes the Cascade AIDS Project, which has been providing HIV services and advocacy in the Pacific Northwest since the 1980s. Since the pandemic began, the organization has largely shifted away from providing in-person services in favor of giving support by phone, email and telehealth.
Tyler TerMeer, the group’s chief executive officer, told OPB’s “All Things Considered” that its work is geared toward creating access to services for people who need them, no matter what’s happening in the world around them.
In addition to HIV and sexually transmitted infection screening and support services, CAP also provides social services for people living with HIV, including rent assistance, help addressing food insecurity, and making sure unhoused people with HIV stay connected. Those have become even more important amid the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. On the health care front, the organization has worked on making sure home HIV test kits and safer-sex supplies are available to community members, despite the in-person separation. They’ve also begun to provide COVID-19 testing.
“[We recognized] that people who we currently serve and members of the broader LGBTQ+ community and beyond would need access to COVID-19 testing,” TerMeer said, “and that we could offer that to the people that we serve but do it in a culturally affirming way.”
TerMeer acknowledged that transitioning to a telehealth model was difficult. “When I made the decision that we were going to this new model, it is in some ways such a far step away from who we are under our mission of an organization,” TerMeer said. “We built Cascade AIDS Project on the ability to provide in-person, compassionate, trauma-informed, client-centered care.”
TerMeer said while group leaders recognize that going virtual is not ideal, the services they provide are vital, and thus need to continue by any means available.
The mental health impacts of the pandemic on people living with HIV, as well as the LGBTQ community, is another concern. TerMeer acknowledged that people in those communities, global pandemic aside, have a long history of trauma and isolation.
“This time of being back in a period of isolation where they can’t have that social connection is very difficult for some of them. They are perhaps on their own, and their only outlet for social connection had been coming to see us for our social service programs, or for our social support program where they met with their peers,” TerMeer said.
Post-traumatic stress has been triggered by current events, especially for some long-term HIV survivors or members of the LGBTQ community who served as caretakers during the early years of the HIV epidemic.
“They’re reliving a very difficult chapter of their life where people were sick and dying around them,” TerMeer said.
The recent death of AIDS activist and Act Up founder Larry Kramer has brought that era of the HIV epidemic back into the national spotlight, in the context of current events. But as TerMeer and his colleagues have heard from some members of CAP’s “Aging Well” support group, the recent comparisons of the coronavirus pandemic and the HIV epidemic are not helpful. In fact, many would highlight the stark differences between the two.
During those early days of the epidemic, “you didn’t see a front-page New York Times article that talked about the 100,000 deaths in the community. That happened years into the epidemic of HIV, and was page 18 news,” TerMeer said.
Long-term HIV survivors are sometimes put off by the comparison, he said, because society didn’t respond to and care about the LGBTQ community in the same way back then, as people living through the epidemic faced stigma, discrimination and fear.
“It was really LGBTQ people and their friends and their family that had to start a revolution, that started a movement that allowed us to get us to where we’re at today in the HIV movement. It wasn’t a societal shift, a societal shutdown that got us to this point,” TerMeer said.
In all of the Cascade AIDS Project’s current priorities — addressing trauma and PTSD, providing essential healthcare and financial assistance, maintaining social connections — TerMeer added that racial equity is kept front and center. From discussions about data collection and contact tracing to considering how face coverings have in the past put some people of color at risk of being profiled, TerMeer said CAP is putting a racial justice framework on all its conversations about COVID-19.
“There should be nothing about us, without us,” TerMeer said. “That’s how the HIV movement was built, and that’s how public health crises should be addressed,” TerMeer said.
About Cascade AIDS Project
Founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis, Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) is now the oldest and largest HIV-services and LGBTQ+ health provider in Oregon and southwest Washington, with more than 100 employees working across four locations. Our organization seeks to prevents new HIV infections; support low-income people living with HIV; and provide safe, welcoming, and knowledgeable healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community. Through our vital health, housing, and other social services, we help ensure the well-being of more than 15,000 people each year. More information can be found at www.capnw.org
About OPB
OPB is the state’s most far-reaching and accessible media resource, providing free access to programming for children and adults designed to give voice to community, connect Oregon and its neighbors and illuminate a wider world. Every week, over 1.5 million people tune in to or log on to OPB’s Television, Radio and Internet delivered services. As the hub of operations for the state’s Emergency Broadcast and Amber Alert services, OPB serves as the backbone for the distribution of critical information to broadcasters and homes throughout Oregon. Oregon Public Broadcasting is a statewide network that includes OPB Television, an affiliate of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and OPB Radio, presenting local news coverage and the programs of National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI) and American Public Media (APM). The OPB Web site is opb.org.
Prism Health Earns Federal Health Center Status
Portland, OR | March 11, 2020 – Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) is very pleased to announce that Prism Health has earned Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Look-Alike status from the United States Health Resource & Services Administration. In order to achieve this designation, health centers must demonstrate that they serve an underserved area or population, offer a sliding fee scale discount, and provide comprehensive services regardless of an individual’s ability to pay.
“The board and staff of CAP and Prism Health are delighted to achieve FQHC Look-Alike status! The region deserves a high quality and innovative healthcare option that recognizes the unique needs of the LGBTQ+ community. We are honored by this designation and will continue to challenge ourselves to provide culturally relevant care for all members of our community regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation,” said Tyler TerMeer, CEO of Cascade AIDS Project and Prism Health.
Prism Health provides high quality, culturally relevant care through a comprehensive patient-centered approach that integrates primary care with behavioral health, pharmacy, and social services. Everything about Prism Health, from the team of providers and support staff and services offered, to intake forms, policies, and even the physical design of the building have been informed by members of the LGBTQ+ community and aim to create a safe welcoming environment. As an FQHC Look-Alike, Prism Health is poised to increase primary health accessibility to the LBGTQ+ community and beyond.
“This is an important achievement for our community, further demonstrating our commitment to welcoming, safe, and non-judgmental healthcare experience for everyone” said Mandy McKimmy, Prism Health Medical Director, “This integrated model along with our designation as an FQHC Look-Alike will allow us to better serve those patients who are in most need of our services.”
Prism Health provides complete primary and preventative care to anyone, including those who are uninsured or who have commercial insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare. Services include primary care, behavioral health, chronic disease management, specialized LGBTQ+ care, supportive services, specialized HIV and STD care & treatment, referrals to specialists, laboratory services, insurance enrollment, and pharmacy services.
About Cascade AIDS Project
Founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis, Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) is now the oldest and largest HIV-services and LGBTQ+ health provider in Oregon and southwest Washington, with more than 100 employees working across four locations. Our organization seeks to prevents new HIV infections; support low-income people living with HIV; and provide safe, welcoming, and knowledgeable healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community. Through our vital health, housing, and other social services, we help ensure the well-being of more than 15,000 people each year. More information can be found at www.capnw.org
About Prism Health
Prism Health provides compassionate healthcare to the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. More information can be found at www.prismhealth.org.
About FQHCs
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) lookalikes, also known as Community Health Centers, are in every state across the nation. FQHCs are authorized under Section 330(A) of the Public Health Services Act to provide healthcare to the medically underserved. More information about the Health Center Program can be found at: bphc.hrsa.gov/about/index.html.
Pharmacy Construction Begins at Prism Health
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, OR — Prism Health is excited to announce that an in-house pharmacy will be coming soon to our Belmont location! Construction on the pharmacy began in earnest on 1/21/2020, with the goal of being built out in 8 weeks. The new pharmacy space will include the Avita Pharmacy, our pharmacy partner.
In addition to a knowledgeable staff, free delivery, and online refills, Avita supports our efforts of delivering compassionate and affirming healthcare by offering Financial Assistance, LGBTQ+ Care and Support, Gender Care, PrEP + STD Expertise, and Community Education + Awareness. "When you fill your prescriptions with Avita, you can feel good knowing you're helping support your community and the mission of helping everyone get better together."
The new space will also include a provider pod, a new conference room, and bike racks. Beyond the new pharmacy space, the current back room (which houses Jake Maginn, Prism's Patient Navigator; Freddie Mora, Prism's Epic Site Specialist; Dr. Antoniskis, Prism's MD; and PIVOT) will be getting an overhaul to allow for more stations and better design. We are so excited for this growth at Prism Health and look forward to being able to offer even more personalized, compassionate, and affirming care for our patients with this addition!