Katherine Rogers, ARNP, was born in Jacksonville, FL and holds a BA degree from Emory University with majors in psychology and economics. She returned to school to pursue a second career as a nurse and earned her BSN, MSN and post-graduate certificate as a family nurse practitioner (ARNP) at Jacksonville University. She completed her BSN program with top honors. She worked as a research manager for numerous studies in the fields of HIV and STDs. Prior to earning her ARNP she worked at several hospitals including Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. She joined CAN Community Health family in Jacksonville/Daytona as an Advanced Practitioner in May 2018.
Report by Nicole Sommavilla at SNN-
A Suncoast man is sharing his transition story hoping to help others. (Mason Fitzpatrick was formerly a Prevention Specialist at CAN Community Health)
“The only way that I can explain it is living 24 years and feeling like my entire body was chained to the ground, that no matter what I did or said, I was never free,” says Mason Fitzpatrick as he thinks back to his childhood.
Fitzpatrick knew as a toddler the name Megan didn’t fit. “I hated with a passion women’s clothing,” he says. “I always felt like I just stuck out.”
By 14 he told his grandmother he was transgender. “She looked at me and she’s like I’ve known that forever now, and it doesn’t matter to me at all,” Fitzpatrick recalls. But it wasn’t easy coming out.
His biggest fear was letting his mom down. “I felt like I was taking away her daughter, there was a part of me that was like I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to forgive myself,” Fitzpatrick says. “I’m taking away a mother’s dream of having a daughter and being a grandmother.”
Of course he had nothing to worry about. With his family behind him, Fitzpatrick began taking testosterone in June 2015, and had top surgery last March. “It was the best experience of my life,” he says.
For the first time, he finally saw himself. Now Fitzpatrick uses his social media as a platform to help people going through the same battles he once did, and his impact reaches across the pond.
“I’ve connected with people in Ireland, I’ve connected with people from Europe,” says Fitzpatrick. “This one is from Poland, and she used Google Translate to write me a letter.” Even sending him a lucky coin.
Even though he gets plenty of backlash from sharing his story on social media, Fitzpatrick says it’s what he was meant to do. “If something that I’m going through and there’s the slightest possibility that I can help someone else, why not?”
Why did it take us so long to focus our attention on the disparities experienced in the South? Was it that AIDS was first identified in big cities on the east and west coasts—Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York? Is it that we’ve become desensitized to reports showing that people living in the South are worse off than others on a wide range of health measures? Is it about maintaining the status quo when it comes to funding? Or do unconscious biases about the South and the people who live there play a role?
I lived in Georgia for 20 years, but I’m not able to answer these questions. I do know however, that we need to pay more attention to HIV in the South and the ways that race/ethnicity come into play in addressing issues of prevention, testing, and treatment.
The numbers are disturbing. The South accounts for more cases of HIV than it should; southern states are home to only 37% of the U.S. population, but account for 44% of new HIV diagnoses and 52% of all AIDS diagnoses. People living with HIV in the South are less likely to: be diagnosed; be linked to HIV care and remain in care; and to attain the levels of viral suppression that are needed to keep the virus from destroying the immune system. These effects add up—in some states, Southerners diagnosed with HIV are 3 times as likely to die as those living with HIV in other states.
These and other facts are very much on the minds of many of us who work on HIV issues. In April, CDC’s domestic HIV/AIDS prevention program hosted a town hall meeting to discuss the subject of HIV in the South. The meeting brought together federal colleagues from multiple Departments and agencies, university researchers, community service providers, and many other stakeholders, which gave those of us attending a chance to hear from a wide range of individuals and organizations.
The discussion was open, honest, and came from the hearts of those who have dedicated themselves to improving the lives of people at risk for, or living with, HIV. We talked about the major challenges to delivering HIV prevention and care services in the South. Living in rural areas presented special challenges, as did the reluctance of some leaders to take action. One participant spoke about her frustration with a federally funded health center in her community that had not yet implemented routine HIV screening—even though she lived in a state with one of the highest rates of undiagnosed HIV infection in the country. The participants also talked about some of the particular difficulties facing key populations, including: gay and bisexual men, especially young black and Hispanic/Latino gay/bisexual men; black women; and transgender persons in the South.
We also recognized the harsh reality that the disproportionate rates of HIV infection among racial/ethnic minority populations, particularly among blacks/African Americans, are tightly bound up in the health disparities experienced by people in the South. We acknowledged that too many people still experience stigma and discrimination that prevent them from getting tested, accessing HIV medical care and treatment, and achieving durable viral suppression.
But I don’t wish to leave the impression that all the conversations were negative. Attendees expressed appreciation for the support of the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF), which has allowed them to be innovative and to find new ways of working across program and agency boundaries in the region. They talked about the impact that the SMAIF-funded CAPUS (Care and Prevention in the United States) project had on their communities and how it allowed them to build capacity to respond to the needs of people with HIV in their communities. Doing this has been especially important in rural areas where people have less access to HIV testing, prevention, care, and treatment.
Participants also shared a wealth of innovative solutions, effective strategies, lessons learned, and best practices to address challenges with delivering HIV prevention services to the communities they serve . I’m certain much of what will be needed to turn things around in the South can already be found there—or it can be built by those who know their local HIV profile best.
The discussion illustrated how the challenges of the past, and the realities of the present, give power to stigma and discrimination that affect many different aspects of Southerners’ lives. Internalized and external stigma can make it more difficult for people to see a doctor when they need one, get tested for HIV, get HIV care and treatment, and achieve viral suppression. As a result, progress in reducing HIV infections has been slower in the South than in other parts of the country—but people with HIV die there faster. That’s not fair to the citizens of those states who are living with HIV, at risk for infection, their families, friends, or communities. They all deserve better.
Counteracting those outcomes must be a high priority if we hope to lessen the impact of HIV and AIDS in the South and end the HIV epidemic. As I’ve noted in other blog posts, building relationships and partnerships will be key to achieving that priority. The good news—as the town hall meeting demonstrated—is that we have a highly capable and dedicated group of public health professionals, community leaders, service providers, and researchers who are willing to do just that. By sharing their struggles and their hard-earned wisdom, they are building the bridge to better health—not only for Southerners who are living with HIV, but for all residents of the region.
Report by Alexandra Sifferlin at Time Health-
Cases of hepatitis C in the United States have nearly tripled within a five-year period, reaching a new 15-year high of around 34,000 new hepatitis C infections in 2015, federal health officials reported. Experts attribute the higher rates to more injection drug use during the ongoing opioid epidemic.
The new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that cases of the disease rose substantially, from 850 new cases in 2010 to 2,436 cases in 2015. However, because most people with hepatitis C do not know they have the disease and most new infections go undiagnosed, the CDC estimates there were actually 34,000 new infections in 2015
The greatest number of new infections are among young people from ages 20 to 29, a spike the CDC says is due to higher use of injection drugs in the opioid epidemic. “We must reach the hardest-hit communities with a range of prevention and treatment services that can diagnose people with hepatitis C and link them to treatment,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, in a statement.
Most people living with hepatitis C are baby boomers, a population the CDC says is six times more likely to have an infection compared to other age groups. There are an estimated 3.5 million Americans living with hepatitis C, and the CDC reports that nearly 20,000 people died from the disease in 2015.
Report by Scott Kraus at The Morning Call (Contact Reporter)-
Three years ago, the outlook changed dramatically for patients with hepatitis C. Until 2014, a hepatitis C diagnosis meant a slow decline into cirrhosis, possibly liver cancer.
There was a treatment — a six to 18-month regimen of weekly interferon injections and daily doses of ribavirin pills that left many patients fatigued, achy, nauseous, even depressed. But for those with the most common form of the contagious disease, it offered only 40 percent odds of a cure.
Then in December 2013, the Food and Drug Administration approved Sovaldi, the first of several new drugs delivered in pill form that promised to cure more than 90 percent of cases in as little as two to three months, with minimal side effects.
The new treatment is the reason you see TV commercials urging baby boomers to get tested, an outgrowth of an initiative by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention to identify those who are infected with hepatitis C, which has few symptoms until it has inflicted serious liver damage. While the treatment is available, it is also cost-prohibitive in the U.S. for many, making a cure elusive.
John Jezick, 60, of is a case in point. As a baby boomer, he already was five times more likely to have hepatitis C than the rest of the adult population, though the medical community isn’t sure why that generation is so susceptible. As a recovering heroin addict who spent time in prison, Jezick’s chances were even higher. And 30 years ago, he was diagnosed with the disease. He saw the toll the old treatments took on friends, and since he wasn’t experiencing much in the way of symptoms other than fatigue, he decided to let it go.
In October 2014, when the FDA approved Harvoni, the single-pill successor to Sovaldi, both produced by California-based Gilead, Jezick went to Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Allentown campus to see if he could finally get cured. Despite being on Medicare and Medicaid because of disabilities, it took more than a year for him to get approved for treatment.
“They didn’t want to give it to me right away because I didn’t have much liver damage at 58,” he said.
While hepatitis C can be a short-term illness, in more than three-quarters of those affected the infection is chronic and deteriorates the liver. The blood-borne virus is commonly transmitted through shared needles, though there are other, less frequent routes of infection, the CDC notes. People who received blood transfusions before 1992 are at risk because screening methods before then did not pick up the virus.
Jezick, who lives in North Catasauqua, finished his treatment in January and is now free of the disease. He feels better, and it’s a weight off his shoulders.
“I’m in here an hour and half every day,” he said, working out at a Planet Fitness gym in Allentown. “I think that says it all. My energy is great.”
Modern medicine has rarely seen such a transformation in the management of any illness as it has with hepatitis C, said Dr. Joseph L. Yozviak, an infectious disease specialist who practices internal medicine at LVHN.
Not surprisingly, patients like Jezick who had been diagnosed with hepatitis C but decided not to put themselves through the old treatment regimen, rushed to get the new medicines, he said.
“That is when the flood gates opened, and that is when the entire pharmacy budgets for many insurance plans were blown for an entire period,” he said.
The new treatments were costly, and many insurance plans balked at paying for them. They’re currently priced between $54,000 and $95,500 a course, which lasts about 12 weeks. Now many private insurers will cover the new drugs only if a patient is in later-stage liver damage, Yozviak said.
Jezick said his course of treatment, which took about three months, cost Medicare and Medicaid $115,000.
And even when people are covered, the co-payments can be significant.
That’s created a tension between the public push to identify the 3 million people health experts believe are infected with hepatitis C — many of whom don’t know it — and the need to cover the cost of curing them in time to prevent major liver damage.
“We have the tools to eliminate hepatitis C in the U.S., period,” Yozviak said. “However, we don’t have the access to such tools in order to eliminate hepatitis C in the U.S.”
What’s missing is a means to pay for the treatment, said Amy Nunn, executive director of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute and a professor at Brown University who has researched ways to get the new treatments to under-served populations. The TV commercials are a start, but more outreach is needed.
Right now, with the pool of patients relatively unknown, drug companies are pricing their products relatively high in the U.S. to recoup their research investments, she said. A key to bringing down the price will be identifying patients who are infected — generating a large pool of people who need treatment.
That would theoretically allow large insurers and the federal government to negotiate better bulk-purchase agreements that would lower the per-treatment cost.
To do that, it would take a federal government effort to identify and treat people with the disease and to help pay for it with subsidies or some other type of funding. That might cost money upfront, but be cost-effective in the long run.
There are some signs of improvement. The Department of Veterans Affairs recently lifted restrictions it was forced to place on hepatitis C treatment because of budget shortfalls. All veterans with the disease, an estimated 174,000, are now eligible for treatment regardless of the degree of liver damage, The Military Times reported last year.
The VA estimates it will pay $1 billion to treat the disease this fiscal year .
In the meantime, the CDC is urging people born between 1945 and 1965 to get tested before they develop chronic infections that make their conditions more urgent. Reach out to CAN for testing and treatment.
Earlier this week, over 600 advocates from 34 states and the District of Columbia descended upon Capitol Hill for the largest AIDSWatch yet; Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN-USA) still made its mark. About 50 PWN-USA members participated in AIDSWatch 2017, some for the very first time, and some who have been coming for years.
“The energy of the tribe of my fellow HIV advocates echoed the heartbeat of those we have lost from the beginning of the epidemic. I was honored to walk to halls of the Capitol building and speak for those lives, my life with every congress person and staffer I met. Our collective voices together are the rhythm of that heartbeat that will spark change and become a deafening war cry to our legislators if they don’t listen to us,” Kamaria Laffrey, PWN-USA member and Florida coordinator for the Sero Project, described her experience in an eloquent blog.
AIDSWatch is the nation’s largest federal HIV advocacy event, connecting people living with HIV and HIV advocates with their elected members of Congress to push for meaningful change on major issues affecting the HIV community. This year, advocates urged their members of Congress to support continued funding of Medicaid and to allow non-expansion states to expand Medicaid; to cosponsor the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act to end HIV criminalization; to support syringe exchange programs; and to support comprehensive sexual education. Learn more about AIDSWatch issues here.
PWN-USA Rocks AIDSWATCH 2017
“As someone new to advocacy, AIDSWatch 2017 was an amazing experience. I learned about policy and I gained new skills to help in my advocacy efforts. I was honored to be a part of the Florida constituent group who together helped bring awareness to a number of HIV issues. I also LOVED seeing my PWN-USA sisters, they are a powerful force!!” said Lindsay Connors.
“My most remarkable memorable moment during AIDSWatch was with my Congressman, Rep. Robert Brady. We were able to see our congressman in person, and he was excited to learn why we need to repeal HIV criminalization laws. We had the opportunity for an educational moment with Rep. Brady on U=U (Undetectable =Untransmittable). He was moved by this science-based information on transmission of HIV and agreed that the HIV criminalization laws have no value today and need to be repealed. I left his office knowing feeling empowered,” said Teresa Sullivan, PWN-USA Board Member and PWN-USA Philly Senior Member, who was her state coordinator this year.
“At my representative’s office, we were able to meet with the lead health staffer for the third year in a row and learn that our hard work has paid off. Our representative had already signed on to the REPEAL Act, written a letter is support of funding for HIV research at NIH as well as Ryan White, and is attuned to our health care needs (and areas of potential reform for the ACA….not repeal/replace),” said Kari Hartel, co-chair of PWN-USA Colorado.
“Weathering the storm, standing in the Halls of Justice, having our voice heard was an empowering moment, the state of Florida came strong and ready!” proclaimed Lepena Reid.
Marco Rubio with group
“The most memorable for me was going to MTV SHUGA Down South – I am an admin in an international group and work with a lot of youth there, and meeting and talking to one of the stars was fantastic,” said Darlene Robertson of Louisiana.
Report by Alix Redmonde, ABC7-
Actor Charlie Sheen recently revealed that an injectable drug has rendered his HIV viral load undetectable. CAN Community Health’s Medical Director Tanya Schreibman M.D. explained how injectable medicines now offer options and hope for qualifying people with HIV, and of a phase three clinical trial that CAN is recruiting patients for. (Video Report)
Dr. Schreibman said, “the Atlas trial involves two inject-able medicines that people will take once a month, which is in contrast to the daily HIV medications that people typically have to take.”
The burden of taking medications every day is difficult for patients, said Dr. Schreibman, but also pill form medication has day to day issues. Some people have nausea, some people vomit after taking medications; people can have all different side effects.
Dr. Schreibman said, “although side effects of daily medications have improved there are many benefits of the once a month drug. The side effects are really minimal compared to being on daily medications which is one of the huge advantages of injection medicines. Dr. Schreibman added, “but also in the long term it has less toxicity on peoples’ bodies.”
For information on CAN, go to their website, and you can call CAN at (941) 366-0134.
Dr. Stephen Covert proudly serves as the principal at Pine View School in Sarasota, FL, and as an adjunct faculty member at the University of South Florida. He and his wife, Cara, a teacher with Sarasota County Schools, are parents to four wonderful Pine View students. As an educator for over 30 years, Dr. Covert is committed to making a positive difference in the lives of his students and in the community he serves. In 2022, Dr. Covert was named ‘Principal of the Year’ in Sarasota County.