PRESS RELEASES
PRESS RELEASES
Here’s the latest from our agency.
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.