San Antonio Run & Walk for AIDS

UTHSCSA PRIDE participated in the San Antonio AIDS Foundation's Run & Walk for AIDS this past Saturday. The 5k run and 2 mile walk began and ended at the Blue Star Complex in the King William District. The annual event promotes awareness and generates funds that allow the San Antonio AIDS Foundation continue its pursuit of providing compassionate medical care and social services to people with HIV/AIDS and to help prevent the spread of HIV through education and free HIV testing.

We also had a relaxing after social hosted by Dr. Taylor, the faculty advisor of the Infectious Diseases Interest Group on campus where we got to know the staff from the FFACTS clinic at the Robert B. Green Campus.

It was a great day!

Safe Space 2.0 to be presented statewide at TAPA!

Every year, the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants (TAPA) holds a major CME conference for its members in major Texas metropolitan areas. UTHSCSA PRIDE is excited to announce that its very own Denise Nemeth and Eric Jay Gonzales will be presenting their newly-developed Safe Space Training 2.0 at the 40th Annual Spring CME Conference! Congratulations to both of them!!

The conference takes on February 19-22, 2015 at the Sheraton Hotel in Dallas, TX. Denise and Eric will present their Safe Space 2.0 on February 21st from 1:45-2:45PM.

We are very excited to educate and train more PA students than ever before in PRIDE history.

Screening of "The Normal Heart" at Jack's House

On Thursday night, PRIDE in partnership with Physicians for Human Rights held a home viewing of "The Normal Heart" (2014), the play-adapted Emmy Award-winning HBO special on the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis among the gay activist community in New York City during the early 1980's. The storyline gives a glimpse of the nation's sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fight to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a country in denial. Thanks to everyone who came!

Upcoming PRIDE Events

PRIDE Monthly Meeting – September 19, 12pm-1pm. SON building – NSG 1.102

Come stop by for our monthly September general meeting for FREE LUNCH and see all the wonderful things that PRIDE is doing this Fall!!
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 Safe Space Training – September 17th, 12pm-1pm. MD Labs 2.029

1-hr training designed to increase knowledge and awareness of the LGBTQ community and the unique disparities they encounter. Attendees will develop social and cultural competencies that will allow them to support LGBTQ individuals and address the inequities they experience.
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SAAF Run & Walk for AIDS – Saturday, September 27th. Blue Star Complex in the King William District

Come help raise funds for HIV/AIDS research with the San Antonio Aids Foundation (SAAF) and stay active in this wonderful event! We have already created a team: ‘UTHSCSA PRIDE’ that you can register under and the cost is $30/$35 for walkers/runners. Website is www.runwalkaids.org. Also there will be a social event immediately following the race for those who sign up at Dr. Barbara Taylor’s house. PLEASE RSVP ASAP IF YOU WANT TO GO TO THE SOCIAL****** Contact floresjm@uthscsa.edu for further information

- Jack Flores, Communications Chair

UTHSCSA Safe Space Training

UTHSCSA PRIDE held its first Safe Space training seminar of the semester today, led by Vice President Ericjay Gonzales! The Safe Space program is a one-hour training designed to increase knowledge and awareness of the LGBTQ community and the unique health disparities they encounter. Attendees ranged from students to faculty and were given the opportunity to develop social and cultural competencies that will allow them to support LGBTQ individuals and address the inequalities they experience. Below are a few pictures of the training:

Dr. Esterl's Eccentric and Aquatic Extravaganza

Dr. Esterl was kind enough to invite UTHSCSA PRIDE to his home for a pool party this past Saturday! The house and the pool were beautiful and provided a much needed break from the Texas heat. Thank you so much Dr. Esterl for opening your home to us! We had so much fun!

Pride Festival 2014 Event

Yesterday, UTHSCSA PRIDE volunteered at the Pride festival organized by the community organization Pride SA. The festival was held in Crockett Park from 11am-7pm. UTHSCSA PRIDE staffed the First Aid tent, offered free health screenings, and surveyed people for the San Antonio LGBTQI Community Health Needs Assessment. The initiatives were a collaborative effort between the School of Nursing and School of Medicine. 16 medical students, 8 nursing students, a nurse practitioner, and our two faculty advisors: Dr. Peter Guarnero of the School of Nursing and Dr. Robert Esterl of the School of Medicine

We were taken by surprise when the 250 paper surveys printed in anticipation of the festival were all filled out by 4:30. However, more surveys need to be completed to move forward! The research initiative needs a minimum of 500 completed surveys, and as of last night, we reached a total of 330 surveys.

We will use the information to guide our next steps in how we can best assist the historically medically underserved LGBTQI community, whether it may be creating a network of LGBTQI-friendly clinicians or a student-run free clinic.

We would also like to thank Pride SA for putting on such a great event. We look forward to participating again in coming years!

Event Pictures