there is a situation that exists in probably every state of this nation with regard to hiv positive citizens. i know firsthand that it is going on in colorado. it is cruel and it is ugly and it sends mixed messages and promotes deception. and i hope we can find a way to address it.
it seems that when a person is incarcerated their healthcare falls under the responsibility of the DOC (department of corrections). this is well and good. but some of those people are released early into halfway house situations to avoid overcrowding and make room for new inmates. when they go to halfway housing, the responsibility of their healthcare still belongs to DOC. however,at these halfway houses, there are no labs or clinics available for testing and consulting, there are no docs to order labs or prescribe meds, and there are no pharmacies available to fill those prescriptions (if there were any). everything is back in prison. most likely, this doesn't affect thousands of people, but i would imagine it does affect hundreds. and if you tally that up over the years, the thousands comes into play.
there really needs to be a safety net for these particular individuals who are still under DOC, so not eligible for other state funded programs. ADAP is happy to pick up the cost of the meds. it is the medical care piece that has gone missing here for these folks. and i know that the ramifications of taking someone off meds while they are in a halfway house does not seem worth it. should part of penalization for drug and other crimes really be to become drug resistant to HIV meds? and i believe that the money for DOC medical and the state money in Colorado probably come from the same pot- or at least a good portion. so are we biting off our nose to spite our face?
And what kind of message are we sending to these individuals who have been incarcerated? that to get healthcare outside prison it is necessary to lie, cheat, and steal? or better yet, you don't matter?
well i don't believe this for a second. this incarceration is supposed to be a rehabilitation process. and though i may consider much of it a cruel joke, i will not be part of condoning a message that tells a person they have less worth. does DOC think that releasing these people with no health safetynet is really doing them any favors? and do these citizens realize they are worth having access to full-on healthcare and that people on the outside believe this too? do we not realize that these people are entering probably one of the riskiest times of their lives as they move into halfway housing? and we choose not to engage them? we choose to kick them to the curb and fend for themselves? can we be any more laissez-faire? can we manage to be any more obviously hypocritical? can we look at other options? can we actually just learn to be kind?
can we wake up here!
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