About Our Sponsors
qnotes is pleased to partner with Affinity Health Center, Amity Medical Group, Rosedale Medical and NC AIDS Action Network in presenting this special section, “Life, Positively,” in recognition of World AIDS Day.
Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)
PPSAT offers PrEP HIV prevention protocol
AIDS service organizations and agencies
Presenting Sponsors
Affinity Health Center
Affinity Health Center is a Federally Qualified Community Health Center. Our main site is located in Rock Hill, S.C. with satellite sites in Clover, Ft. Mill, and York. Our staff of almost 60 employees is growing to serve the needs of our community with compassion, dignity and respect. Our team of providers includes an internal medicine/infectious disease physician, two family practice physicians, three family nurse practitioners, a certified nurse midwife/women’s health nurse practitioner, on-site dentist, a mental health counselor and a contracted registered dietician. We also have clinical support staff, case managers and community health educators to provide comprehensive health services for all ages. Our recent move into a new 30,000 sq. ft. facility has allowed us to expand services including an on-site pharmacy and full-time on-site dental care.
Our beginnings as Catawba Care, an AIDS service organization, still show strong in our focus on HIV specialty care and case management services. We invest in prevention of HIV, Hepatitis C and STDs by providing one-on-one education and group presentations throughout our service area. We also provide free, confidential walk-in HIV, Hepatitis C and STD testing, in addition to PEP and PrEP navigation every Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. and Friday 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
For over a decade, Affinity Health Center has joined with Winthrop University students to observe World AIDS Day. This admission-free event is open to the community and will be held on Monday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at DiGiorgio Center (Dina’s Place) on the campus of Winthrop University in Rock Hill. We’re honored to have Trey Greene, MSW, LCSWA of Transcend Charlotte as moderator of a discussion panel on HIV and the transgender community at this year’s World AIDS Day observance.
Transcend Charlotte is a non-profit organization out of Charlotte, N.C. created to provide services and support to transgender adults and others struggling because of their identity and/or experiences. People they support include, but are not limited to, others on the LGBTQIAP spectrum struggling with their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression; people of color; individuals facing physical or mental health challenges; and/or survivors of trauma. Transcend Charlotte is open to discussing all aspects of identity including struggles with religion and belief, but is not affiliated with any religion or religious organization. Transcend Charlotte seeks to “‘Rise Above’ conflict, labels and our differences in promoting connection, understanding, and empathy for ALL people.”
Greene is a transgender man and clinical social worker in private practice and through Time Out Youth. He is also co-founder and executive director of Transcend Charlotte, which serves transgender individuals in Charlotte, N.C. and the surrounding region. He received his MSW from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a focus of study on the LGBTQ community and trauma-informed care. He is passionate about working with trauma survivors in and outside of the LGBTQ population, as well as providing education about trans-related topics and sexual assault prevention and recovery.
Please join us in our observance of World AIDS Day on Dec. 3.
Amity Medical Group
Amity Medical Group has its origins in the mission of Wesley Thompson, who envisioned a “one-stop shop” approach to healthcare. He also believed that a collaborative approach with community partners to ensure seamless care was part of the answer. Wesley approached Dr. Richard Wynn, a friend who was also looking to provide comprehensive primary care to people with complex medical conditions who have limited access to healthcare, many of whom lacked insurance or were underinsured. Together they co-founded Ballantyne Family Medicine. Thompson and Wynn partnered with Rx Clinic Pharmacy to establish an on-site pharmacy to further enhance their ability to serve all of the patients’ needs. Soon thereafter, in order to serve the uninsured HIV positive patient population through the HRSA Ryan White Program, Thompson and Wynn founded the Amity Group Foundation. These clinics successively served these patient populations until they realized they could serve more and do more if the two merged. Thus, Amity Medical Group was born.
Amity Medical Group providers include board certified family practice providers, HIV specialists, GLMA certified providers, WPATH certified transcare providers, PrEP specialists, diabetic specialists, and pharmacogenomic specialists.
Amity Medical Group is honored to be part of the Mecklenburg County Health Department PrEP pilot, as well as a research partner with the ViiV Epividian project.
Training is essential to the next generation and Amity Medical Group is a clinical site for training for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and School of Pharmacy, Wake Forest University Physician Assistant Program, Duke University Physician Assistant Program and HIV Specialty Training Program, Wingate Physician Assistant Program, Walden University Nurse Practitioner Program, and Winston Salem State Nurse Practitioner Program, multiple certified nursing assistant and medical assistant training programs, and coding and billing training programs.
In less than three years, Amity Medical Group has grown to include a physician, multiple physician assistants and nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists and a staff of 20. Thousands of patients now receive comprehensive care at two locations in East and South Charlotte. In addition to community partnering to provide comprehensive care, Amity Medical Group has developed a generous sliding scale for patients without healthcare insurance and accepts indigent patients through its partnership with Care Ring of Mecklenburg County. With support from Novant Health and the Mecklenburg County Health Department, Amity Medical Group holds regular free mobile health screening events for people in underserved communities, particularly focusing on the immigrant and Latino families.
Amity Medical Group, in addition to its on-site pharmacy, also provides laboratory services, radiology, psychological counseling, medication management by clinical pharmacists, Medicare Annual Wellness visits and we are a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) where all your medical needs are coordinated by your primary care providers. We accept almost all medical insurances including Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, Ryan White, and we have a generous sliding fee scale that helps both with office visits, labs, radiology and prescriptions at our in-house pharmacy.
Rosedale Medical
Rosedale Medical has been a leader in HIV care, treatment, and prevention in the Charlotte area for over a decade. We always acknowledge the importance of remembering World AIDS Day and relaying our message to the greater stage of a world in need of our education around this crisis. However, our dedication to our patients, the community and those infected and affected goes far beyond one day a year. For our providers and staff everyday is World AIDS Day.
The last few years have seen Rosedale make many important and instrumental changes and additions to our programming. Rosedale is a proud sponsor with Walgreens, CVS and Avita; so that we can serve your pharmacy needs on site at our locations or we can arrange home delivery. These partners work directly with your providers so that you feel you have a team working for you behind the scenes. In addition, because of the unique and inventive federal programming with which we have partnered to become a pharmacy, you can help others. By simply filling your prescription with us and using your regular insurance, a portion of the proceeds that would normally go the insurance companies is allowed to be “re-invested” in clinical and supportive services for patients with no payer source.
We also have expanded clinical services at the Huntersville office to include greater access to funding and insurance options to allow us to treat any individual no matter of their fiscal situation. In addition, we have added nutritional services, mental health services, personal care advocates, research studies and access to PReP. In addition, we also offer primary care services to the LGBT community and beyond. We also have free testing at our clinical locations.
The greatest addition to our family is the new Uptown Charlotte location where we serve clinical patients throughout the week. The building also houses our new non-profit RAO (Rosedale Assistance and Opportunities). RAO offers a wide variety of services at that location to work complimentary with the best quality medical care in the region. We look forward to expanding this location and its services so that we can create a greater impact on the LGBT and HIV community in our area.
Back in 1988 when we held the first World AIDS Day, it was the first ever Global health day. While we have made great strides in HIV care and treatment, the fight is not over. Today, education and prevention are just as important as ever. Decades into this crisis, we are seeing a whole generation growing up that were not around to remember the “crisis” as it struck in the 1980s and 1990s.
At Rosedale we will not stop until we have done everything we can to eradicate this disease and make sure that all people, regardless of station, are treated as individuals and not numbers. Access to quality and affordable healthcare is our continued mission. From our founder and Medical Director, Dr. Frederick Cruickshank, and all of the staff at Rosedale Medical, we want to thank you for your continued support to our mission.
Supporting Sponsor
North Carolina AIDS Action Network
The North Carolina AIDS Action Network (NCAAN) was initially birthed out of the need to end the state’s HIV Medication Assistance Program (formerly known as the AIDS Drug Assistance Program) waitlist — once the longest in the nation. As a result of NCAAN’s advocacy, North Carolina’s HIV Medication Assistance Program ended its waitlist and remains fully funded.
Since its formal incorporation in 2010, more than 30,000 people living with HIV and their allies have taken action with the organization, resulting in numerous legislative victories and tangible, real change for individuals living with HIV and AIDS in North Carolina. In recent years, the network has coordinated coalition advocacy campaigns that modernized North Carolina’s HIV criminal law, secured a state appropriation of $1.2 million to combat viral hepatitis and blocked legislation that would have rolled back components of North Carolina’s sex education law.