BALTIMORE - For many years Baltimore s prostitutes have been overlooked in the fight against the AIDS epidemic. But now health officials are taking more notice of the high-risk group in a city that has the country s second highest AIDS rate. There s a growing recognition at the health department of the importance and n
BALTIMORE - Baltimore s churches and religious groups have opened their doors to those living with HIV and AIDS, becoming a visible piece of the outreach efforts. I think it stems to our history. The black church is a big part of the black community, said Edna Reynolds, executive director of community-based organizatio
BALTIMORE - The Rev. Bertha Greene is pastor and organizer of Sacred Zion Full Gospel Baptist Church in Baltimore and board chair of Project Arise, a faith-based HIV prevention program funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke to The Examiner about the faith community s role in prevention. Describ
BALTIMORE - Linda Bardo knew the system wasn t working when a stroll through her Curtis Bay neighborhood meant shielding children from the crude sight of sexual transactions. It s pretty bad when you walk down the street and see four or five prostitutes in just a couple blocks, said Bardo, 51, president of the Curtis B
WASHINGTON - T he road to hell is paved with good intentions, and American disability law is a major supplier of asphalt. Who could have foreseen that lawmakers attempts to protect handicapped individuals from discrimination would have devolved into such absurdities as the recent pronouncement that lack of romance rend
WASHINGTON - Members of Congress aren t the only federal employees on vacation in August. At least 116 Washington bureaucrats are junketing to the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City this week, representing the National Institutes for Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Ser
SAN FRANCISCO - Among the many traditions of a San Francisco summer - sweaters, street fairs, Bay to Breakers - is the Help Is On the Way gala AIDS benefit produced by the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation. The evening combines a concert with pre- and post-show receptions featuring wine, samplings from top restaurants and
SAN FRANCISCO - Occupation Executive director, AIDS Coalition Silicon Valley Home: San Jose Achievement Dugan was named executive director of the AIDS Coalition Silicon Valley, which produces the annual Walk for AIDS Silicon Valley (Oct. 19 this year) and Unmask The Mysteries Gala in June, two large HIV/AIDS fundraiser
SAN FRANCISCO - GOOD, a media company for people who want to live well and do good, presents its second annual Choose GOOD Block Party on Sunday. On the program is live music by the Morning Benders, the Mumlers, DJ Franki Chan and DJ Vin Sol on a solar-powered outdoor stage. The fun also includes food and drink, art in
SAN FRANCISCO - Thousands of participants are expected in Golden Gate Park s Sharon Meadow on Sunday for AIDS Walk San Francisco. Since 1987, the event has raised nearly $65 million for HIV programs and services in the Bay Area and has been an amazing example of cost-effective fundraising and extraordinary community ac
Washington, D.C. - Whispered comments by the Rev. Jesse Jackson have opened up a much louder conversation between Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and some members of the black community. Jackson, who was appearing as a guest on a Fox News television program, whispered to a fellow guest during a commercia
BALTIMORE - With more of Baltimore s opiate addicts receiving treatment with buprenorphine, city health officials are turning their attention to keeping patients in the program. We are really focusing on getting as many people to the point where we can transfer them into primary care, said Baltimore Health Commissioner
Northern Tanzania -- Dr. Frank Artress looked down at his fingers. His nail beds were turning blue. He was running out of oxygen near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. A cardiac anesthesiologist, Artress knew the signs of high altitude pulmonary edema. He knew there was a 75 percent chance that he would perish on Africa
BALTIMORE - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a wonderful performer, fully aware of his mesmerizing power. A charismatic man, he used the pulpit of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago to exhort, elevate, embarrass and denigrate his congregation and his country. He calls his style neither superior nor inferior to o
BALTIMORE - Susan Ahlstrom is director and chief executive officer of HERO, an organization in Baltimore that provides health care, legal advice, substance-abuse counseling and other services to HIV-positive people. On the eve of the organization s 25th - anniversary gala Friday - featuring former Surgeon General Joyce
WASHINGTON - Peggie Matthews founded Chronicles of Truth Productions in 2003 to provide faith-based, family-friendly theater in Prince George s County while addressing social issues like the county s HIV/AIDS epidemic. Information about upcoming productions and auditions can be found at www.cotpinc.org. How did your cu
BALTIMORE - Gov. Martin O Malley and Baltimore City officials fired back Tuesday, saying funding of CASA de Maryland is a required duty of social service in the face of failing federal immigration laws. The question becomes: Are we going to allow a permanent underclass of individuals to exist in our state, or are we go
BALTIMORE - Walter Abbott lost his house, his drywall company - twice - and now his freedom. When he discovered Maryland funds pro-immigration group CASA de Maryland, he fired off an angry letter to Gov. Martin O Malley containing a threat on the governor s life. It was out of frustration, Abbott said. Now is he on hom
WASHINGTON - As the Prince George s County Health Department slices a $25,000 abstinence-education program, a new nonprofit has formed to more than fill the void, backed by $600,000 in federal grants. The county had previously used a $25,000 share of an available $500,000 in-state funding at a county-run clinic to teac
WASHINGTON - Mayor Adrian M. Fenty loves east of the Anacostia River. Last year, he held at least 23 percent of his media events in either Ward 7 or Ward 8. Ward 2, where many District government offices are located, was the only area to top that number with 31 percent of news conferences being held there, according to
BALTIMORE - The color of one s skin does not affect the quality of a patient s care at hospitals, a University of Maryland report confirms. When whites and minorities are admitted to a hospital for the same reason, they receive the same quality care in that hospital, said University of Maryland s health care economist
BALTIMORE - Flesh-eating bacteria, tuberculosis resistant to multiple drugs and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, aka MRSA - the names fill us with the dread of catching some vile disease for which there is no relief. Yet actual occurrences are extremely rare if you don t have a serious immune disease such a
BALTIMORE - Carroll s abstinence-based sex education is outdated and unrealistic, students and parents say. The policy came under renewed criticism when officials blocked lessons about condoms in an HIV-prevention program that the county s health department recommended for Gateway School, which enrolls troubled student
BALTIMORE - Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O Brien is leading local Catholics in a time when the book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a national best-seller, sex-abuse accusations against priests are still headline-grabbing news, and Maryland pregnancy centers supported by the Catholic Church are accus
BALTIMORE - An HIV-prevention program will not include lessons on condoms at a Carroll County alternative school for troubled teenagers, where pregnancy has been increasing, officials said. Gateway School principal Bob Cullison and the county s Health Department wanted to start a course called Making Proud Choices that
WASHINGTON - Marie-Rose Sirikari was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, came to the U.S. as a refugee and is now a U.S. citizen. While in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she was a delegate to the Pan African Christian Women Assembly, where she fought for the right of women to participate in public affairs and
SAN FRANCISCO - With more than $33 million in budget cuts proposed for The City s Department of Public Health, a crowd packed a City Hall meeting room Tuesday, spilling into the hallway to lobby for local health services and programs on the chopping block. With The City facing a projected $233 million budget deficit fo
WASHINGTON - The District of Columbia’s elected leaders are facing an economic slowdown as they head into their fiscal year 2009 budget deliberations next week, though it is unclear whether they will respond by reigning in spending. Though he anticipates an $80 million surplus at the close of the current fiscal year -
SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco AIDS Foundation s gay and bisexual men s health center in the city s Castro District will hold a community forum tonight to discuss a recent report on methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus, known commonly as drug-resistant MRSA, according to officials. Magnet, the men s health cent
WASHINGTON - Nationals manager Manny Acta donned a suit and tie instead of his usual baseball uniform on Tuesday. It will not be long before he can change back. With about a month left before pitchers and catchers report to spring training in Viera, Fla., Acta and Nats pitchers Jason Bergmann and John Lannan visited Ch
WASHINGTON - After years of failed public health efforts to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in the black community, a group of faithful in Prince George s County are calling upon their religious leaders to open up about an epidemic the churches have long considered taboo. As of September, HIV/AIDS had infected 5,108 people
WASHINGTON - D.C. s Housing Authority is about to start an exhaustive process to determine who on its 57,000-person public housing waiting list still needs a home, officials told The Examiner on Wednesday. It s been eight years since the agency verified the names on the enormous list, which some social service workers
WASHINGTON - The former head of pharmacy services at Washington s St. Elizabeths Hospital is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to stealing prescription drugs from the hospital with the intent of reselling them, according to officials. Raymond Jackson and his wife, Brenda, a pharmacist at a Temple Hills Kaiser Permanen
WASHINGTON - Earmarks have earned a bad name. Like slush fund. Like pork barrel. Like payoff. An earmark is a way for politicians to scoop a hunk of money out of public funds and bestow it on a favorite project. Earmarks bypass the time-consuming budgeting process. Call them private appropriations. On Capitol Hill ever
WASHINGTON - Mayor Adrian Fenty on Wednesday infused a privately funded needle exchange program with $300,000 in taxpayer dollars in the hope of reaching thousands of additional intravenous drug users before they are infected with HIV. Fenty, joined by three D.C. Council members, delivered a check to Prevention Works!
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.