Legal Liability When Re-opening Your HIV Workplace

Everyone wants their workplace to be safe for clients and staff. COVID-19 has created a new set of questions about the legal liability nonprofits face as states begin to reopen. Click here to review a memo from Trister, Ross, Schadler & Gold about potential liability issues that you might need to address when re-opening our office. Thank you, Mara Keisling, (National Center for Transgender Equality) for sharing this information. Each state will have different rules. There is no one size fits all solution. Agencies should consult with your legal counsel when making determinations for your workplace.

Understanding when and how to re-open is particularly challenging for HIV organizations. Our clients and/or staff could be immune compromised. Not everyone can achieve an undetectable viral load. As the data has shown, people of color are particularly hard hit by both HIV and COVID-19. Please join me for my first Instagram Live conversation with thebodydotcom on Thursday, May 21 at 2 PM (eastern) where I will talk about legal liability for the HIV workplace. I am not an expert on this topic, but these are some of the concerns I face when trying to figure out solutions for NMAC. Thank you, Charles Sanchez, for inviting me to your show.

NMAC’s Weekly Webinar in Spanish
Due to the overwhelming response to our webinar on immigration, NMAC will host another webinar on this topic, but in Spanish. Join us on Thursday, May 21, at 1 PM (Eastern). Register here to join this important session.

Experiencias de inmigración durante COVID-19:
Barreras y facilitadores hacia el cuidado de la salud

Resumen
Existen innumerables barreras que impiden a las personas inmigrantes acceder a recursos que les permitan subsistir. Una de ellas es la barrera del lenguaje. Como un ejercicio de justicia lingüística, hemos diseñado este webinar completamente en español. En él estaremos hablando sobre las barreras y los facilitadores encontrados por personas inmigrantes al buscar servicios de salud durante la pandemia del COVID-19.

Únete a esta conversación facilitada por Damián Cabrera-Candelaria y Miguel Ángel Díaz-Martínez de NMAC, para conocer sobre recursos disponibles desde quienes se encuentran luchando por el libre acceso a servicios de salud de los inmigrantes.

Panelistas
Alina Duarte, periodista independiente, DC– El racismo institucionalizado perpetúa el que las comunidades de inmigrantes sean mantenidas en el margen. Alina presentará cómo esto ha causado un efecto dispar dentro de la pandemia a la vez que muestra estrategias que han demostrado ser efectivas.

 

José Romero, Latino Commission on AIDS, NC– El peligro de la deportación al momento de buscar servicios es una de las barreras principales que enfrentan las comunidades de inmigrantes en los Estados Unidos. Por esta razón, José Romero hablará sobre cuáles son los derechos de estas poblaciones y qué pueden hacer para continuar con el cuidado de la salud.

 

Anandrea Molina, Organización Latina Trans en Texas, TX– Poblaciones ya desventajadas son puestas en situaciones de riesgo aún mayores en eventos de crisis como los actuales. Por esto, Anandrea expondrá las desigualdades hacia las comunidades trans en el sur de los Estados Unidos y cuáles son las herramientas que tienen para enfrentarlas.

 

Immigration experiences during COVID-19:
Barriers and facilitators towards healthcare access

Summary
Countless barriers prevent immigrants from accessing resources that allow them to thrive, the language barrier being one of them. As an exercise in language justice, we have designed this webinar entirely in Spanish. In it, we will talk about the barriers encountered by immigrants when seeking healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Join this conversation facilitated by Damián Cabrera-Candelaria and Miguel Ángel Díaz-Martínez from NMAC to learn about available resources from those who are fighting for the rights of immigrants to access health services.

Panelists
Alina Duarte, freelance journalist, DC – Institutionalized racism perpetuates keeping immigrant communities on the sidelines. Alina will present how this has caused a disparate effect within the pandemic while showcasing strategies that have proven to be effective.

José Romero, Latino Commission on AIDS, NC – The dangers of deportation while seeking services is one of the main barriers faced by immigrants across the United States. With that in mind, José Romero will speak about what the rights of these populations are and what they can do to access healthcare.

Anandrea Molina, Organización Latina Trans en Texas, TX – Already disadvantaged populations are put at even greater risk in crisis events like the one we are currently living. For this reason, Anandrea will expose what are the inequalities experienced by the trans communities in the south and what tools they have to face them.

Register Here to Attend the Webinar
Thursday, May 21st at 1 PM (Eastern)

Today is National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. As a gay Asian man who has committed his life to ending the HIV epidemic, I live my life at the intersection of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. I dedicate this newsletter to my friend Kiyoshi Kuromiya. From ACT-UP NY, “Kiyoshi is perhaps best known as the founder of the Critical Path Project, which brought the strategies and theories of his associate/mentor Buckminster Fuller to the struggle against AIDS. The Critical Path newsletter, one of the earliest and most comprehensive sources of HIV treatment information was routinely mailed to thousands of people living with HIV all over the world.” Thank you for your vision and leadership.

Please be safe!

Yours in the struggle,
Paul Kawata