Sense Project

Head & Hands is hosting a rapid HIV testing clinic on Thursday, March 31st, 2011, between 5-8pm.

This free service is available for youth aged 12 to 25. Limited spaces are available; the clinic is first-come, first-served.

Rapid testing allows people to get results in a matter of minutes, in contrast to conventional HIV testing which typically involves a two-to-three week delay before getting results. This delay can cause a lot of anxiety and in many cases act as a significant barrier to getting tested. In fact, 76% of people who received rapid-HIV testing at Head & Hands on World AIDS Day listed “less anxiety” as the reason they prefer rapid-testing to regular testing. Head & Hands uses INSTI™ HIV-1/HIV-2* Antibody Test, which provides the same accuracy in results as standard HIV testing (99.96%).

This is the second time that a rapid HIV testing clinic is being offered at Head & Hands. It is a new project that has been developed with the support of the Farha Foundation. The first clinic was offered on World AIDS Day and was very successful: 92% of youth who were tested said that they preferred rapid HIV testing to regular testing, and 100% said they would get rapid testing done again.

In keeping with Head & Hands mission, this clinic aims to provide services that empower youth to make healthy life choices. By offering this confidential, free and rapid HIV testing night, we aim to facilitate Montreal youths access to HIV testing and to do so in a holistic and harm reductive manner. Counseling will be available on site.

Here’s the Facebook event, if you’re interested!

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À deux mains offrira pour la deuxième fois sa clinique de dépistage rapide du VIH, jeudi le 31 mars, 2011, entre 17h et 20h.

Le service sera offert gratuitement pour les jeunes âgés entre 12 et 25 ans. Nombre de places limitées.

Le dépistage rapide permet d’obtenir les résultats en approximativement 10 minutes, alors que les tests de dépistage conventionnels impliquent une attente de 2 semaines entre la réalisation du test et la réception des résultats. Ce délai peut causer beaucoup d’anxiété et, dans plusieurs cas, une barrière à la décision de se faire tester. Comme le dépistage rapide élimine la période d’attente, il peut encourager les gens qui, autrement, ne se feraient pas tester. À deux mains utilise le test d’anticorps INSTI™ HIV-1/HIV-2* qui fournit la même exactitude dans ses résultats que le test de dépistage du VIH standard (99.96%).

C’est la deuxième fois qu’une clinique de dépistage rapide du VIH est offerte chez A deux mains. Il s’agit d’un nouveau projet qui a été développé avec le soutien de la Fondation Farha. La première clinique a été offerte la journée mondiale de lutte contre le SIDA et a été un succès. Vingt-sept jeunes ont été testés ce soir-là, 88% ont dit qu’ils reviendraient.

Conformément à la mission de À deux mains, cette clinique vise à fournir des services qui encouragent la jeunesse à faire des choix de mode de vie sains. En offrant cette soirée de dépistage du VIH confidentielle, gratuite et rapide, nous visons à faciliter l’accès des jeunes de Montréal au dépistage du VIH avec une approche holistique et de réduction des risques. Des interventions seront disponibles sur place.

Voici l’événement Facebook, si cela vous intéresse !

I don’t know about you, but I sure am getting psyched for the Head & Hands 40th Anniversary Gala, or as I prefer to call it, the Gayla of the Year! The big soirée is tomorrow night at the magical Rialto Theatre - I just walked by today, and our name on the marquee made me smile. All week, past staff members, alumni and volunteers have been dropping by our office at 5833 Sherbrooke West to say hi and to pick up their tickets -including one who helped found H&H in 1970!  Radical!!

All of these wonderful supporters and friends will be partying down tomorrow night, with CBC Homerun’s Sue Smith hosting, and live music by Socalled, Lake Stew, and the Matthew Daher Jazz Trio. Do you have your ticket yet?? If not, hurry on over to buy online, because tickets are selling out, and online sales end at noon tomorrow.

Anyway, don’t listen to me - here’s what some other people-about-town are saying:

• Montreal Gazette
• Montreal Mirror
• The Hour
• Midnight Poutine
• See photos from CBC’s 2-hour Homerun special on Head & Hands
• Amber as in Amber Goodwyn

Extremely awesome moves!

Says Sarah Odell, Fundraising & Events Coordinator:

I remember jumping to the left on De Maisonneuve and doing the pelvic thrust on Ste. Catherine, shouting out for sex ed in our schools on St. Hubert and walking, dancing and ‘time warping’ on the streets of Montreal with thousands of people who want to raise awareness and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Our team!

We have already raised $12,800 and the campaign continues until December 1 (World AIDS day). Help us make 2010 (Our 40th anniversary!!) our biggest fundraising effort to date by contributing to our online campaign here!

pile o' condoms!

This week in Sense animator training, volunteers started practicing delivering the series of three workshops we offer to youth.  It was exciting to see their mad facilitation skills and secret talents come out of the closet!

-if a condom breaks while you’re putting it on, start with a new one! this is also true if a condom breaks during condom demonstration - hey, it happens!

Animators rock the Rocky Horror look at Ca Marche!

Tags: ACCM, animator training, Ca Marche, Events, fundraising, HIV, hiv/aids, photos, sense project, volunteers