As we remember the lives lost on this World AIDS Day, I wanted to take a moment to recall my journey.

I was 18 years old when I started as a Risk Reduction Specialist with Avenue 360 Health and Wellness, a community health system founded in the 1990s to take care of AIDS patients. Fifteen years and much growth later, I’m still with this wonderful organization. I’ve walked the tunnels of Houston’s jail system. I’ve been told, at times sternly, by clients which vein to draw blood from, as the one off limits had been used to shoot up. I’ve diagnosed my best friend with HIV.

The saying ‘HIV does not discriminate’ remains true, but the impact of HIV bears a heavy burden in racial and ethnic communities and in gay and bisexual men. The South, including Texas, accounts for more than half of new HIV diagnoses across the nation.

We have every weapon in the toolbox to ensure that our communities stay healthy. Educating more people on using these tools to eradicate the HIV epidemic in Houston is why I stay in this fight. And it sure is a fight—still.

If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that we can be resilient in the most uncertain of situations. This World AIDS Day let’s re-charge, and together stand strong against HIV.

This World AIDS Day, stop by one of the locations below for a free, rapid HIV test.

Midtown Health Center | 9AM-5PM

Humble Health Center | 9AM-5PM

Heights Health Center | 9AM-5PM

Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing | RM 135 | 10AM-3PM

6436 Fannin Street, Houston, TX 77030

Prairie View A&M University Northwest Houston | Bookstore | 10AM-3PM

9449 Grant Rd., Houston, TX 77070

The information contained in this Avenue 360 Web site is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment, and Avenue 360 recommends consultation with your Avenue 360 doctor or health care professional.