News: 04/2024 | Page 6 | George House Trust
News: 04/2024
16 Oct

FESTIVE LUNCH

By Phillip McCulloch 0 Comments

Festive Lunch

 

Join other people living with HIV at George House Trust’s fabulous Festive Lunch!  We will be providing hot food, including roast turkey, beef, vegetarian options, and all the trimmings.

 

We will also have a range of sparkling refreshments, sweet treats, and some festive entertainment.

 

Please let us know beforehand if you have any dietary or access requirements.

 

Due to Covid-19 we are holding two sittings this year, with 20 individual places on each.  The two sittings are taking place on:

 

Wednesday 15th December, 12noon – 3pm

or

Thursday 16th December, 12noon – 3pm

 

You can select a sitting when you register for this event.

 

If you have any questions, please call Josh on 0161 274 4499 or send Josh an email. 

 

Covid-19 Statement

 

We’re really pleased to be welcoming people back to George House Trust for in-person events.

 

We have hand sanitiser stations throughout the building, our volunteers will be wearing masks and we’ve limited food and refreshment self-service at events.  You also have the option of wearing a mask when you’re in the building.

 

As much as we are trying to be as Covid safe as possible, we cannot completely eliminate the risk of someone contracting Covid whilst at an event.

 

We would ask that you think carefully and consider your own health status before deciding to attend an event.

 

If you have any symptoms associated with Covid-19, such as:

  • A new and continuous cough
  • A high temperature or fever
  • A loss or change in sense of smell or taste

please do not attend an event you have registered for or enter the George House Trust building.

 

If you test positive within 5 days of attending an event (either through a lateral flow test or PCR test) we ask that you let us know.  We will then text other people who were at the event to advise them that they should test.  This will be done anonymously; your details will not be given to anyone.

 

If you have been at an event where someone has notified us that they have tested positive for Covid-19 we will notify you by text.

Wednesday, 17 November, 2021
16 Oct

Have You Had Your Flu Jab?

By Ingrid Turner 0 Comments

 

HAVE YOU HAD YOUR FLU JAB?

If you’re living with HIV it’s advised that you get a flu jab, also known as a vaccine, every year. It is a safe and effective vaccine that can help protect people at risk of flu and its complications. It is particularly important this year because of Covid-19. We need to do everything we can to protect our health.

 

It is FREE for people living with HIV.

Where can I get a flu jab?

  • Your GP surgery
  • A pharmacy offering the service, including pharmacies in supermarkets
  • Your midwifery service if you are pregnant

 

Is it safe?

It is. The vaccine does not have ‘live’ virus in it, so it is safe for use by people living with HIV. If you’re concerned about the safety of the vaccine, please speak to your GP.

 

How long does it take?

It’s a quick procedure, taking no longer than 5 minutes.

 

Why do I need to have it every year?

There are different types and strains of flu viruses and the ones in circulation can change. The make-up of the vaccine is reviewed each year and updated to ensure it provides as much protection as possible. Also, the immune protection given by a vaccine reduces over time, so the best way to make sure you’re protected is to have it every year.

 

I’m young and healthy, do I need it?

It is recommended for EVERYONE living with HIV regardless of age or general health. This is because people living with HIV are deemed to be at higher risk of developing complications from flu.

You can find out more about flu on the NHS website and on the Aidsmap website.

 

Sort it today, don’t delay.

Monday, 11 October, 2021
16 Oct

Black History Month: Yvonne's Blog

By Ingrid Turner 0 Comments

Black History Month 2021

 

Yvonne is an HIV activist and volunteers at George House Trust.

 

I was thrilled and honoured to be asked for my contribution to Black History Month. 

 

Being “a woman of a certain age”, there were lots of heroes and sheroes that ran through my mind when I thought about the contribution of people of colour, but for me, particularly those from Africa and the Caribbean.  This knowledge has kept my faith, strength and resilience whilst growing up.

 

The image of the defiant Black Panthers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King also remind me that any goods and services that I enjoy today were hard fought for and won by my forefathers and their allies.

 

However, our gains have also been about living the proof of our humanity in arenas where we were, or were not, expected to be seen. So, I’m proud of Mae C. Jemison as the only black female astronaut that I know of, the hidden figures of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Johnson Vaughan and Mary Jackson. 

 

As a young girl, I was hungry for characters that were like me, particularly women; yet I clung to every victory and achievement that black men also achieved.  They were the thin edge of the wedge that was being pushed through the locked gates of society.

 

So, it wasn’t such a stretch for me to want to see people like me, people living with HIV.  Sadly, at the time of my diagnosis I knew none and consequently lived with fear, shame, and isolation. However, since coming to terms with my diagnosis, I have found people from all walks of life who are HIV positive including people like me, whom I wished I had known about much, much earlier. 

 

There is a strength in knowing you are not alone, that there are people out there who understand the highs and lows of both racial and HIV discrimination. 

 

For me, like all the heroes and sheroes before them, this particular group show me how to live my best life. In the HIV arena, they stand as very visible icons continuing the tradition of fighting for the rights of black people to step into their humanity. 

 

They remind me that I have a right to live and that HIV is just a long-term medical condition. 

 

I have learned that we are still resilient. I have learned that all the skills I used to overcome racism, I will use again to fight HIV discrimination. 

 

More importantly, I see that black people are still contributing to the larger collective fight against HIV discrimination whilst demonstrating the breadth of the things that we do as people of colour. 

 

Lastly, they help me to keep my faith, remain strong and resilient and remind me that I can be if I believe in myself - just as I am.

 

Eternally grateful for this group of people, I’d like to introduce you to some of the people who remind me of my HIV heritage and hope that you enjoy discovering and celebrating them as much as I have...........

 

 

18th October 2021

 

Black History Month Celebration Event

Robert's Black History Month Blog

Monday, 18 October, 2021
15 Oct

THIRD DOSE OF COVID-19 VACCINE RECOMMENDED FOR IMMUNOCOMPROMISED PEOPLE

By Phillip McCulloch 0 Comments

Third dose of COVID-19 vaccine recommended for immunocompromised people

Immunocompromised people who received the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines should receive a third dose to improve their chances of developing an adequate antibody response, the US Centers for Disease Control recommended earlier this month.

The recommendation applies to people who are receiving immunosuppressive treatment for cancer and to people with HIV with low CD4 counts or detectable HIV viral load (although US CDC doesn’t specify what CD4 threshold should trigger eligibility for a third dose).

Immunocompromised people are those who have:

  • Been receiving active cancer treatment for tumors or cancers of the blood
  • Received an organ transplant and are taking medicine to suppress the immune system
  • Received a stem cell transplant within the last 2 years or are taking medicine to suppress the immune system
  • Moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency (such as DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)
  • Advanced or untreated HIV infection
  • Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or other drugs that may suppress your immune response

You can read the full article here.

Monday, 23 August, 2021
13 Oct

Robert's Story - Part 3

By Ingrid Turner 0 Comments

Black History Month 2021

 

Robert is a volunteer at George House Trust and has written a four-part blog for Black History Month 2021. Here is part 3......

 

When I separated from my wife and went on to the gay scene I was horrified at the language I heard in pubs and clubs.

 

The “N” word was still quite often heard but of course I am talking about the late 1980’s. Who says gay people can’t be racist?

 

I remember on one occasion thinking I had met a really nice guy at the bar as we bought drinks, chatted and laughed and then only to be told, “Oh, I have never been to bed with anyone coloured before but, mind you, I didn’t think your skin would be so soft or you would be so intelligent and you do smell nice”. “By the way, I hope you don’t live in Moss Side.” Needless to say, I made a hasty retreat out of that joint.

 

I am proud of my mixed-race heritage.

 

Whether it’s on my maternal grandfather’s side who was the grandson of a slave or indeed on my father’s side where there is supposedly some aristocracy as his great grandfather was the Count of Fosse. We need to remember that racism has been around for a long time.

 

My father told me the story of his uncle who went to Scotland to lecture at Edinburg University in the early 1900’s and when they heard he was from Jamaica, the students waiting in the hall started chanting “bring on the monkey” before he even got to the podium. Of course, they were quite shocked to see a white man and not what they had imagined. Apparently, my ancestor had a wicked sense of humour and his opening words were; “Well, now you’ve seen a white monkey!”

 

I can honestly say that I am happy with my station in life and I am pleased to say that none of the above has scared me in any way. I feel there are times when you just have to shrug these racist incidents off and even laugh as perhaps we can all be a little too PC.

 

Then, there are other times when you have to stand up, be counted and make a lot of noise, show your teeth and don’t let people trample all over you.

 

Black History Month Celebration Event

Read part 1

Read part 2

 

14th October 2021

 

Thursday, 14 October, 2021
11 Oct

Robert's Story - Part 2

By Ingrid Turner 0 Comments

Black History Month 2021

 

Robert is a volunteer at George House Trust and has written a four-part blog for Black History Month 2021. Here is part 2......

 

My early years of teaching were far from easy as the stereotype mentality of some parents and visitors to the different schools where I taught was quite embarrassing. On numerous occasions I was mistaken for the care-taker or some kind of “handy-man” so when I said I was a teacher, you could see the surprise on the person’s face as if to say; shouldn’t you have a broom in your hand?

 

I saw myself repeatedly passed over for promotion and even though I was almost a straight “A” student and was awarded a distinction for my teaching. I was scrutinised much more than my white colleagues. When my students did well in exams, no one mentioned good teaching, as their success was because they were bright and capable. When they failed it wasn’t due to their laziness or that they hadn’t applied themselves, no it was down to bad teaching. It was my fault!

 

I had a break from teaching and went to work as Cabin Crew for a few years and it was noticeable on how few occasions I got to work at the front in Business Class. I can only assume that cabin crew managers did not feel that a slightly older man of colour should be serving in this particular cabin on the aircraft. Yet in training school we were told that we must work in all cabins on a regular basis.

 

I guess some sociologists might call this a type of “Hidden Apartheid”. When I was given an award one month, for having the most letters of commendation from passengers on my flights by my Fleet Manager, one crew member was heard to remark “I bet he has his friends on his flights and gets them to write in to praise him”.

 

Looking at the funnier side of things, I remember a teacher at one school stating that she was sick of people stereo-typing her as since she came from Wales everyone seemed to think her father was a coal miner and he was called Taffy.

 

Then I looked at her and said now you know how I feel as people seem to think because I’m from Jamaica my father was a bus driver and my mother a hospital orderly because those were the predominant roles that West Indian immigrants took on arrival in the UK. 

 

So, when she enquired what jobs my parents did and I mentioned that my dad was an electrical engineer with his own company and that my mother was a trained pharmacist with her own business, she seemed surprised!

 

Read part 1 here

 

Part 3 coming later this week......

 

Black History Month Celebration Event 

 

11th October 2021

 

Monday, 11 October, 2021
07 Oct

Robert's Story - Part 1

By Ingrid Turner 0 Comments

Black History Month 2021

 

Robert is a volunteer at George House Trust and has written a four-part blog for Black History Month 2021. Part 1 is below......

 

When I arrived in the UK in the mid 1970’s I had no idea that I would face racism and prejudice almost on a daily basis. Having come from Jamaica where the island’s motto is “Out of Many, One People” and having grown up with cousins who were black, white and all the shades in between and having gone to school with Chinese, Indian, European and other ethnicities whose parents or grandparents had made their home in Jamaica, it really was a shock to the system.

 

I was a 21-year-old mixed race man and came here to study, with a view of settling down as my great uncle on my father’s side had been an Admiral in the British Navy. My father is white Jamaican of French and British heritage and my mother is mixed race, the offspring of a black father and a half Irish, half Scottish mother.

 

So perhaps now I could see why my dad’s side of the family had always come across as having an air of superiority. They sometimes looked down on the darker skinned side of the family but as my father explained this was something inherent from the old Colonial days. My dad tells me that when he told his parents he had proposed to my mother, they sat him down on the veranda and said, “Three questions!”  “Is she coloured?”  “Do her parents have money?”  “Is there any lunacy in the family?”

 

One of my first experiences of being made to feel different was one Saturday morning in Birmingham, when I went to a mate’s house to go to a football match and his mother answered the door and then shouted up to my mate Dave, “There’s a coloured lad at the door for you”. Why the adjective? She could have just said, “There is a lad at the door”.

 

A similar incident occurred when I was looking for digs at college. The man who phoned round on my behalf repeated the same mantra with every call. “He is coloured” So what? I thought. I soon discovered that at that time some white people thought that young people like me would be cooking highly spiced foreign muck, playing Reggae Music full blast and cussing them in Patois English.  

 

There are so many situations over the years where I have had to stand tall and just stay composed but one incident that sticks in my memory is during my first year of teaching and travelling home on the school bus.

 

The driver suddenly stopped the bus and wiped the floor with me because I had followed the instructions of the Head teacher and asked the pupils to calm down and stay in their seats. This man abused me in front of the students by saying that it was his bus, he was in charge and how dare me give orders on his bus. It was quite obvious it was to do with me being a black teacher as in those days there weren’t many of us in the profession like there is today.

 

Black History Month Celebration Event 

Read part 2 of Robert's blog

Read part 3 of Robert's blog

7th October 2021

 

Thursday, 7 October, 2021
01 Oct

7 Years At George House Trust

By Ingrid Turner 0 Comments

It’s 8pm on a Wednesday night in September 2021, and I have just finished my final official meeting – the Annual General Meeting – and now my time as Chair is over.  As I leave the building my thoughts go to the first time I stepped through this door…

 

Like most people, I can remember my first visit to George House Trust as though it was yesterday.  It was a cold, dark winter evening and I was incredibly nervous - I was desperate to make a good impression, and for them to like me.  The lady I had spoken to when I arranged my appointment had sounded nice over the phone, and explained things really well, but I still didn’t really know what was waiting for me on the other side of that door.

 

Like everyone else who steps through that door, what I found was a warm and friendly group of people who are passionate about ending the stigma and discrimination facing people living with HIV.  Unlike everyone else, I then experienced possibly the longest and most thorough interview of my life. 

 

You see, I wasn’t there as a new service user, I was there to be interviewed for the position of Chair of Trustees.  The successful candidate would be the first Chair who wasn’t a current service user or volunteer (a bold decision for a member-led organisation) hence the thorough selection process.  Far from putting me off, the interview process made me want the role even more.  That might seem strange, but I had my reasons.

 

Firstly, any organisation putting that much effort into recruiting a Chair obviously cared deeply about their services and service users.  Secondly, member representation on the three interview panels was clearly not just a “tick box exercise” – evidence that George House Trust truly was a Member-led organisation (something that is really important to me). 

 

And last, but by no means least, everyone I met that evening was warm, friendly and passionate about the work of George House Trust.  I was hooked - everything I’d read, and heard, was true – I wanted to be part of this!  Needless to say, I was over the moon when I was offered the position.

 

Seven years later, as I open my car door, I catch a glimpse of the tattoo on my wrist and smile. Now anyone who has met me knows that I do like my ink, but there is a special reason why this tattoo makes me smile.  Partly it’s because the tattooist kindly donated 20% of the proceeds to George House Trust.  But mostly it’s because it reminds me of the advocacy work George House Trust undertook to ensure that every tattooist within Greater Manchester understands that to refuse to tattoo someone based on HIV status is unlawful.

 

And then I think of the formula milk scheme, and smile again - HIV positive mothers across Greater Manchester are offered free formula milk for their babies because of George House Trust!  Both of these things may seem fairly insignificant, but for me they represent what George House Trust is all about – challenging stigma and discrimination every day, and making a real difference to the lives of the people we support.

 

George House Trust has been a huge, and varied, part of my life since that night seven years ago. 

 

I have met Bishops, Lord Mayors and Drag Queens (sometimes at the same event!); thrown myself out of a plane to raise money; danced the night away at Drag Balls (why did I choose to wear a pleather dress on the hottest day of the year?!), and cried silent tears at Candlelight Vigils; attended award ceremonies and many, many Board meetings (some of which I even managed to keep to time!). 

 

I consider myself so lucky to have been able to play a small part in some of the amazing things it has achieved such as joining the U=U (U Equals U or Undetectable=Untransmittable) campaign, and award-winning writer and producer Russell T. Davis agreeing to be our patron.

 

As I drive away for the last time I am still hooked! I will never cease to be amazed by the impact that the organisation has on the lives of people living with HIV, and I will be forever grateful to have been part of it.

 

Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with me.  And to all the staff, trustees, members and volunteers (past and present) it has been a privilege to know you and work alongside you!

 

Friday, 1 October, 2021
13 Jul

5 YEARS OF U=U

By Neal Sharpe 0 Comments

 

5 YEARS OF UNDETECTABLE = UNTRANSMISSABLE 

 

July 21st, 2021

 

We're celebrating the milestone of the Undetactable Equals Untransmissable campaign turning 5 years old. 

 

5 years ago, a global coalition of activists, advocates, and scientists came together to pronounce that Undetectable = Untransmittable or U=U.

 

We're proud to be a Community Partner of the U=U Consensus Statement issued by the Prevention Access Campaign and strongly endorses the research supported message* that people living with HIV and with a sustained undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV to their sexual partners.

 

We firmly believe that HIV stigma is fuelled by the fear of HIV transmission – the U=U campaign is potentially one of the most powerful ways in which HIV stigma will be defeated.  The fact that we now know that effective HIV treatment has a clear and proven preventative impact means that the need for everyone, no matter where in the world they live, to have easy and fair access to HIV medication is now more urgent than ever before.

 

*The PARTNER study was an international observational study that estimates the risk of HIV transmission within HIV serodifferent couples (one person is living with HIV, the other is not) who do not use condoms, when the HIV positive person is on antiretroviral therapy and has an undetectable viral load. Read more information about the Partner Studies in this campaign from ViiV Healthcare, supported by George House Trust.
 

Wednesday, 21 July, 2021
08 Jul

UK AIDS Memorial Quilt

By Ingrid Turner 0 Comments

Background

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is a precious artefact. Each of the panels commemorates lives lost to the AIDS pandemic during the 1980s and 90s. It is a public naming of loved ones lost, and a memorial for the many who died and went unnamed too. 

 

It is part of an international movement that sought to raise awareness of the impact of the AIDS pandemic and ensure that these lives would never be forgotten.

 

The quilts remind us how far the UK has come in the fight against HIV but how much there is still to be done to tackle stigma, reduce new infections, particularly in vulnerable communities, and support those living with HIV to lead long and healthy lives.  

 

Reflections Of The Launch Event from Our Chair, Jo Hancock

The UK AIDS Quilt Partnership was in the early stages of development when I began my first term as Chair for George House Trust.  I remember the panels being packed up ready to be transported to their new home, and the determination that they would not stay locked away. 

 

It is therefore fitting that one of the last “official” events I attended as Chair is the largest display of the UK AIDS quilts in London since the early 1990s. The launch event on 3rd July 2021 was both a celebration of how far we have come, and a protest at the stigma, discrimination and needless loss of life. 

 

It was loud and passionate - the energy in the room was palpable.  As we moved to view the panels silence descended. 

 

The quilt is a poignant piece of social history. But more than that, it is a very powerful reminder of the personal loss felt by so many.  Each panel celebrates and commemorates the life of a loved one – named or unnamed. To view it is both challenging and uplifting, the experience public and yet so very private. It is a reminder that HIV is still with us and that lives are still lost.

 

It is a call to action to challenge HIV stigma, support those living with HIV today, and create a future free from HIV.

 

The AIDS Quilt Exhibition was organised by The Food Chain, George House Trust, Terrence Higgins Trust, Positive East, Positively UK, Sahir House, Waverley Care and Fast Track Cities London.

Thursday, 8 July, 2021

Pages

Living with HIV? Want to talk to us?
Call 0161 274 4499 or email: talk@ght.org.uk