Support for people living with HIV or AIDS

Perhaps you’ve just been diagnosed; or, you’ve been living with HIV for many years.  No matter what your situation, AIDS PEI is here to help you.  From income assistance to emotional and medical support, our staff can help you with your concerns including treatment, HIV stigma or discrimination, dealing with a new diagnosis, meeting your health goals and managing your HIV.  We have tons of resources just for you.

Newly diagnosed?

The first thing to remember if you’ve recently been diagnosed is that – YOUARE OK!  No doubt you’ll have many questions: am I going to die? when should I start treatment? Are my family or friends at risk? Video: From CATIE (newly diagnosed)

Living long-term with HIV

If you’ve been living with HIV for a long time, you might have questions about medication side-effects, changing medications and managing life changes with your HIV medication.  You might also be looking for ways to adhere to your medication.

Education

Whether you’ve been living with HIV for a short time or a long time, we’re here to help. We also provide education to PHA’s (people having HIV or AIDS).  Perhaps you want to know a little more about how the virus works or about the different medications that are out there or about the progress of HIV over the past 25-30 years.  We can provide you with tons of information to help you better understand your virus.

Translating the information

There is a great deal of information out there about HIV, treatments, prevention and support. Sometimes, it’s difficult to understand all the information.  Luckily, we can help you translate the miles of information out there.  We can sit with you, one-on-one, and help you understand the information so that you have the right information.

We can help you during times when you might be considering starting or changing medications; there are a number of questions you need to ask your doctor (see education>starting treatment).  If you know the questions, you can make informed decisions.

You might also have questions about obtaining housing, medical care, working in an office with HIV or another concern. There’s tons of information out there and we’ll help you decipher it all – just give us a call!

Family support

We can also help you and your family cope with your diagnosis. We have resources just for families that can provide help to people who care for people living with HIV.

Family members living with HIV can live quite safely within the household.  If you’re concerned about this, read more about HIV/AIDS in the “Education” section of our web site. You’ll learn how HIV is spread.

Once a family member has been diagnosed, they will need all the love and support that you can provide. Remember, they are no different today than they were yesterday; it’s just that they now have a chronic condition which may require medication and support.

We also have resources and can provide advice and counseling to serodiscordant couples (those couples where one partner is HIV negative and one is positive).