AIDS Healthcare Foundation: To commemorate World AIDS Day 2009, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a 12-hour free HIV testing marathon at its newest “Out of the Closet” Thrift Store in Miami at 2900 N. Biscayne Blvd. Tuesday, December 1st, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. In addition, the “Out of the Closet” Thrift Store in Wilton Manors (at 2097 Wilton Dr.) will also offered expanded HIV testing hours from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1st. The events are part of AHF’s World AIDS Day 2009 “Testing Millions” campaign which seeks to test several million people for HIV in conjunction with this year’s observance of World AIDS Day.
“All are encouraged to visit the Miami or Wilton Manors ‘Out of the Closet’ locations on Tuesday, December 1st, to take advantage of the extended testing hours, as finding out your HIV status is so important to protecting your health and the health of your partners,” said James Vellequette, Regional Manager - Southern Bureau Prevention, Testing and Development for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “With this innovative World AIDS Day testing event, we are proud to be a part of AHF’s larger global ‘Testing Millions’ campaign which, among other things, seeks to normalize and de-stigmatize HIV testing so that people look at it as a routine part of health care. I strongly urge people with any questions about their own HIV status to join us and get tested on Tuesday.”
“Out of the Closet,” the world’s most fabulous thrift store, is a chain of twenty stores in Northern and Southern California and in South Florida, owned and operated by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest specialized provider of cutting-edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay. “Out of the Closet” Thrift Stores generate income that helps fund the medical services AHF provides. Ninety-six cents of every dollar earned goes to providing HIV/AIDS treatment, testing and prevention. In addition to regular retail operations, many store locations also offer free HIV testing and counseling on a regular basis—including the Miami and Wilton Manors locations.
Adjacent to the Miami and Wilton Manors “Out of the Closet” Thrift Stores is an AHF Pharmacy, which provides specialized expertise for people living with HIV/AIDS. AHF Pharmacy is also a full-service pharmacy, able to fill any prescription and open to everyone — whether HIV-positive or not. Revenues generated contribute to the care and treatment of AHF patients as well as supporting testing and prevention efforts worldwide. As the spokesperson for AHF Pharmacy, actor and activist Blair Underwood has said: “Any pharmacy can fill a prescription. Only one can change lives.”
In Florida, AIDS Healthcare Foundation serves more than 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS through a variety of programs, including Positive Healthcare (a statewide disease management program), Positive Healthcare Managed Care, testing and prevention programs, as well as healthcare centers in Jacksonville, Miami and Fort Lauderdale.