Sahir House would like to invite you to this year s Annual General Meeting. Being held on: Wednesday 27 th September

Transcription

1 Sahir House August Newsletter 2017 Sahir House would like to invite you to this year s Annual General Meeting Being held on: Wednesday 27 th September 1.30pm 3.30pm Doors open 1.30pm with sandwiches, cake and drinks AGM commences: 2pm 3.30pm This year we will be looking at the IMPACT the work of Sahir House has on the community on Merseyside. Sahir House won the GSK IMPACT Award during this reporting year, a national award run with The King s Fund that recognises excellence in charities improving health and wellbeing in their communities. Please join us to celebrate this achievement. This is a public event and everyone is welcome 4 th Floor, Liverpool Central Library, William Brown St, Liverpool, Merseyside L3 8EW Please RSVP Serena Cavanagh info@sahir.uk.com Guests reading the Annual Report at the Annual General Meeting

2 Services and news Services for people living with HIV outside of Liverpool We have been providing services for over 30 years and each week welcome many people to our centre who may be coming here to meet with others, receive therapeutic support, attend courses and get practical help. What we ve noticed is that less people from Sefton,St Helen s and Wirral attend and, as Sahir House supports people throughout the whole Mersey Region, we would like to remind our service users further afield that they are very welcome to attend. If travel is problem, please remember that you may be able to access Saveway tickets to help with travel costs just contact the office for details and don t forget that we are based in all the hospital HIV clinics in St Helens, Southport and Wirral throughout the month so perhaps you can catch up with us there? Check out this newsletter s calendar, look at the website and follow us on twitter to keep in touch and we hope to see you soon. Kevin Burgess reports back from the UK - CAB meeting which took place on 14 the July 2017 The meeting began as usual with an update on new drugs and trials. The meeting then looked at the Poppy Study which examines the effects of aging in people over 50 years. The trial is unique in that it looked at 3 categories which are HIV+ over 50, HIV+ under 50 and people HIV- with as close as lifestyle as possible as those who were over 50. They took a close look at depression and its impact. The overall conclusion was that HIV+ people were at a much higher risk of suffering with depression than those who are HIV-. They looked at the reasons for this which included the burden of a life-threatening chronic difficult to manage disease, stigma, social isolation and discrimination, occurrence of other comorbidities and complications and side effects of medication. They then looked at physical activity levels amongst HIV+ individuals this looked at the project run by the YMCA and the possibility of running it on a nationwide basis. It would be a 12 week course. Then we looked at the report and its recommendations on HIV peer support which will be part of BHIVA guidelines. Then we received reports on the Kings Fund conference, NHIVNA conference and Community reps feedback. Then we received a report on cervical cancer screening and trial that may become available. 2

3 Public Consultation Orthopaedics and ENT A public consultation has launched this week on proposals for a single orthopaedics service for Liverpool s hospitals. Under proposals, orthopaedics specialists at Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust would join together to become a single team, working across all three hospital sites. This would involve separating most planned and unplanned orthopaedics care onto separate hospital sites, which would mean some operations taking place in a different place to where they do currently. Under the proposed changes, most planned procedures such as hip and knee replacements, would take place at Broadgreen, whilst most unplanned procedures would take place at Aintree, which is already the Major Trauma Centre for Cheshire and Merseyside. Local orthopaedic doctors believe that this would improve patient care, giving all patients better access to the right doctors for their specific need, and helping meet higher clinical standards. The orthopaedics proposal is part of a wider Healthy Liverpool vision for transforming hospital services in the city, which could see other hospital services join together as a single, city-wide service in the future too orthopaedics is the first to be put forward in a public consultation. It also supports work already taking place between Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust exploring how they might become a single organisation in the future. In order to enable the proposal to take place, some ear, nose and throat (ENT) services would also need to be moved from Broadgreen to Aintree, and some urology and general surgery services would also need to move from Broadgreen to the Royal Liverpool site. The public consultation will take place between 26 June and 15 September People can find out more and share their views online by visiting or calling (0151) to ask for printed materials. The consultation is being led by NHS Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), in partnership with CCGs in neighbouring Knowsley and Sefton, Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust. During the consultation NHS Liverpool CCG will also be visiting a number of different groups and forums locally to talk about these proposals and gather people s views. You can find out more via Facebook at: facebook.com/healthylvpool and on Twitter at: twitter.com/healthylvpool 3

4 Participation Today the Government is announcing exciting new proposals to deliver greater equality for the LGBT community, ahead of the 50 th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales A consultation on the Gender Recognition Act 2004 This Autumn, the Government Equalities Office will launch a formal consultation on reviewing the legislation underpinning gender recognition. We ll be inviting feedback on proposals to streamline and de-medicalise the process of legal recognition. A nationwide LGBT survey to gather views to inform future policy We have launched a national survey that will ask LGBT people across the UK to share their experiences of being LGBT in the UK. This will inform new Government policy and set the LGBT agenda for this Parliament. You can access the survey here. Changing the deferral periods for blood donation for men who have sex with men The Department of Health has announced that the blood donation deferral period will be reduced from 12 months to 3 months for men who have sex with men. This is an important step in the right direction towards a more risk-based approach. We will use the results from our nationwide LGBT survey to shape future Government policy, and we would really appreciate your help in circulating the survey to as many LGBT people in the UK as possible. Please do share the link through your networks to help represent the full range of LGBT experiences: In the 50 years since we began decriminalising homosexuality, we have achieved significant progress on LGBT rights, from allowing same-sex marriage, to Turing s Law, and seeing the highest number of LGBT MPs of any Parliament after this year s general election. We hope that this announcement builds on this progress, and we look forward to working with you to continue strengthening LGBT rights today and in the future. We remember all those were persecuted for their, our, right to love. We must never forget that the "freedoms" we celebrate today are present at the sacrifice of those before us. To those who were treated like criminals, undergone treatments too horrific to mention and believed they were victim of a terrible disease. We salute you. Liverpool Pride 4

5 LGBT Trans Health Merseyside Transcend dates for the next two months are Tuesday 22 nd August and Tuesday 19 th September Wellbeing dates and speakers Tuesday 8 th August with Hannah Saxe from Irwin Mitchell Solicitors Hannah is here to speak about legal considerations around Gender Reassignment issues in relation to family law, partnership / relationship / employment. Tuesday 5 th September with Tim Blackstone Back by popular demand to expand on the sexual health session he presented earlier in the year. Tim s sessions are engaging and fun whilst dealing with questions and considerations of sensuality and sexuality as a trans, intersex, non binary or transsexual person/s Tuesday 3 rd October we will welcome Chris from Christianos Chris believes in giving people the information they need to make a fully informed decision with regards to their treatment and care for hair removal. Chris will be coming along to talk us through all methods of long term hair removal, their pros and cons, what treatment is best suited to individual needs, how to approach treatment and accessing NHS funding for hair removal. - Massive thanks to EVERYONE who supported Sahir House at this years Liverpool Pride! What a weekend, 8000 people on the march and over 50,000 attending the event over the weekend! Now that s a successful event! Have a look at the Sahir news page on the website for more photos but here are a couple of the team at the weekend. Special thanks to: Arnie, Bob, Cath, Catherine, David, Graeme, Helen, Julie, Kev, Linda, Lottie, Lynette, Mathew, Paul, Peter, Sam, Serena, Shereen, Steve, Tracy, Val B, Val J & Will. 5

6 Staff Team Member of the Month This month we re chatting to Outreach Support Worker, Shereen Cowley Three favourite aspects about your role? 1. The people! Working with people from different communities, cultures and backgrounds. I really enjoy hearing about service user s stories and what brought them to the point they are at right now in their life. 2. I love being able to see someone progress and achieve. It s really rewarding watching someone who you have been working closely with grow in confidence and start to become independent and happy. It s an absolute pleasure being part of that process and its really empowering as a support worker. 3. Learning and developing my professional skills. One fantastic thing about working at Sahir House is it allows you to keep constantly learning new things whether it is around HIV, asylum and immigration or how to promote social change. Having the opportunity for training and development is a massive bonus in my role. What are you excited about this year? My new role as facilitator of the Many Hands One Heart LGBT asylum support group. I am very excited to have taken over this role from Mimi and Jen and will be doing my best to further develop the Many Hand One Heart Group and continue the amazing work that Mimi and Jen have started. People you would invite to dinner: Ms Dynamite- She is an amazing old school garage MC but also has some very powerful lyrics in her albums. She promote positivity over violence and talks about issues that are often swept under the rug. Amy Winehouse- I love her music and think she would be good fun! Thanks Shereen! Next month we will be chatting to another member of staff so come back next time!! 6

7 Volunteering Sahir House are holding a new volunteer induction training course in October 2017 Open evening Thursday 5 th October 6pm 8pm at Sahir House Interviews being held the week of 9 th October help needed! New volunteer induction training course Friday 20 th evening, Saturday 21 st all day and Sunday all day 22 nd October caterers needed New volunteer inductions held week of 23 rd October help needed! If you are a service user and are interested in applying, then complete the volunteer info pack on the website volunteer page For any more enquiries please contact Cath Turner, Development Manager training@sahir.uk.com Ageing Awareness What barriers and opportunities are there in our older years? Guest speaker: Jenny Paton, Head of Community Development & Engagement, Age UK Wirral Thursday 14 th September 5.30pm 7.30pm at Sahir House As part of our ongoing commitment to understanding the issues of diversity, Age UK Wirral will be exploring issues faced by older people and the related discrimination and how best to challenge it. What does age really mean to us? How old/young do you feel? Feel free to bring a picture of a younger you in to share! For more info and to register your attendance, please contact Cath Turner cath@sahir.uk.com These meetings are planned with volunteer support and training in mind and a good attendance is encouraged and expected as part of your ongoing commitment to volunteering at Sahir House. Staff, trustees and service users are welcome to attend. 7

8 Courses Art ideal for exploring your own flair! Art Collective 4 th, 11 th 18 th 25 th August and 1 st September Drama great for boosting your confidence More drama with Collective Encounters 8 th 15 th 22 nd September Please see Pam Smith or more information and to register for sessions. pam@sahir.uk.com or call the office Sahir House Functional Skills: English, Maths and IT Starting again in September 2017 on Thursday mornings from 10.30am to 12.30pm. See Pam to register or for more information on or pam@sahir.uk.com Sahir House Creative Writing Course Friday 29 th September 2017 Following the great success of the last Creative Writing Course in 2014 we are excited to have Karen Brown back who is a professional writer. You do not have to be a great writer or speller. This course is for self expression and story telling and open to all HIV positive service users. The course will be on a Friday morning in the World Museum for 10 weeks and will start on 29 th September Please register your interest with Pam Smith pam@sahir.uk.com or

9 Bought and Sold Smart big awards and prize money Is killing off black poetry It's not censors or dictators that are cutting up our art. The lure of meeting royalty And touching high society Is damping creativity and eating at our heart. Advertisement The ancestors would turn in graves Those poor black folk that once were slaves would wonder How our souls were sold And check our strategies, The empire strikes back and waves Tamed warriors bow on parades When they have done what they've been told They get their OBEs. Don't take my word, go check the verse Cause every laureate gets worse A family that you cannot fault as muse will mess your mind, And yeah, you may fatten your purse And surely they will check you first when subjects need to be amused With paid for prose and rhymes. Take your prize, now write more, Faster, Fuck the truth Now you're an actor do not fault your benefactor Write, publish and review, You look like a dreadlocks Rasta, You look like a ghetto blaster, But you can't diss your paymaster And bite the hand that feeds you. What happened to the verse of fire Cursing cool the empire What happened to the soul rebel that Marley had in mind, This bloodstained, stolen empire rewards you and you conspire, (Yes Marley said that time will tell) Now look they've gone and joined. We keep getting this beating It's bad history repeating It reminds me of those capitalists that say 'Look you have a choice,' It's sick and self-defeating if our dispossessed keep weeping And we give these awards meaning But we end up with no voice. Taken from Too Black, Too Strong. Published by Bloodaxe Books (2001) 9

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