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GRACE workshop focuses on HIV study in women and people of color
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Support group, At the Kitchen Table holds promise for living with HIV
GRACE: A study whose focus is women and people of color living with HIV/AIDS, is the topic slated for a public workshop, Thursday, November 5, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
According to the centers invitation, the event hosted by the Resource Center of Dallas, Dr. Elizabeth Race, University of Texas Southwestern and Dr. Keith Rawlings, Peaboy Health Center will include information on:
- Issues affecting women and people of color living with HIV/AIDS
- Findings from the GRACE study and how they may be relevant to individuals
- The medication studied in GRACE
- How to identify the support needed to manage HIV personally.
Dr. Keith Rawlings said of the study, that the most significant outcome was: "after twenty-plus years into this epidemic [HIV/AIDS] compelling, informative information regarding participants historically under-represented has been compiled."
Until the GRACE study, women and certain minority groups (people of color) were not generally included in clinical trials, which compared gender differences in response to HIV medication.
While education is a critical component to the workshop, Dr. Rawlings said they want to "put people in touch with other participants, who have been through the trials and know what they are like." "But more importantly," he continued, "is to let people living with HIV know what interventions are available to them."
One such participant is Dallas resident, Deneen Robinson. Ms. Robinson is founder and facilitator of "At the Kitchen Table," a Dallas area support group for women living with HIV.
The group started in 1999, and Ms. Robinson said the two main goals of the group are:
- End social isolation. This is accomplished by engaging group participants in the community and with each other.
- More knowledge about the disease process, specifically their own case.
"This empowers women to learn to live with HIV," Ms. Robinson said.
Ms. Robinson explains that living with HIV is a process. She relates that every day is an opportunity to move along in the process. Teaching those in the group that "they are going to be okay; they are going to have to make some changes and they are going to have support doing it."
WORKSHOP INFORMATION: The Orion Ballroom, Bank of America Building, 400 Zang Blvd, 15th floor, Dallas, TX (214) 942-1661
AT THE KITCHEN TABLE INFORMATION: (214) 521-5124 or visit the Web site: Resource Center of Dallas
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