Legacy Honors National Gay Men’s HIV & AIDS Awareness Day with Community Events

Legacy locations in Houston and Beaumont will honor the observance with free testing and a chance to win a Visa gift card.

By Barrett White

 

National Gay Men’s HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NGMHAAD) falls on September 27, 2020 this year. On September 26 and 27, Legacy Community Health will observe NGMHAAD with community events in Houston and Beaumont.

To observe NGMHAAD 2020, all four participating Legacy locations will offer free HIV testing. Three Legacy locations in Houston will offer free condoms to attendees during the event, which will be held during regular clinic hours, with no appointment needed. Legacy’s Central Beaumont clinic will offer all of the above, as well as breakfast and lunch boxes, from 10 AM to 2PM by appointment only, by calling (409) 242 2613.

All four participating clinics will also offer the chance to win $100 in Visa gift cards.

The following Legacy locations will participate in NGMHAAD 2020:

• Montrose, 1415 California Street, Houston
• Southwest, 6441 High Star Drive, Houston
• Santa Clara, 5616 Lawndale Street, A108, Houston
• Central Beaumont
  • Central Beaumont’s event will be held at a community event space near the clinic. Call ahead for details.

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there will be COVID-19 screenings at the front doors of each clinic and mandatory mask rules enforced. Rooms will be thoroughly disinfected often. All participating locations will offer free cloth masks to attendees.

“National Gay Men’s HIV & AIDS Awareness Day is an opportunity to shine a light on the HIV prevention needs of same-gender-loving men,” says Jen Hadayia, Senior Director of Public Health at Legacy. “We know the HIV epidemic has greatly and disproportionately impacted this community. Knowing your HIV status starts with getting an HIV test. Legacy makes it easy with free, walk-in testing at all of our clinics, including this weekend for NGMHAAD at four locations.”

We have come a long way since the 1980s and 1990s. HIV is no longer considered a “death sentence” with proper medical care, but that does not mean that care providers or community members can be blasé about treatment and prevention – while not a death sentence, HIV is still an epidemic that affects millions annually.

Legacy Community Health has been there since the very beginning, working in lock-step with the community on the front lines of the HIV epidemic. From humble beginnings as a volunteer-run gay men’s health clinic in the early 1980s, to the present day as the largest FQHC in Texas serving all people who walk through our doors, we have never forgotten our roots in HIV care.