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Celebrating 50 Years Of Health Brigade

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For 50 years, Health Brigade has been working hard to offer medical assistance to disadvantaged and marginalized communities in Richmond. Their 50th anniversary is certainly worth celebrating.

UPDATE, 3/12/20, 3 PM: Due to concerns over the coronavirus, Health Brigade has cancelled their Golden Anniversary BriGala, originally scheduled for Friday, March 13. For more information, check their Facebook page. Original article follows:

Health Brigade, formerly Fan Free Clinic, has been serving the community for 50 years, and they’re celebrating with their “Golden Anniversary” BriGala on March 13, 2020. It’s time to take a look back and see how this clinic has impacted Richmond, as well as highlighting what 50 years mean for both the community and the staff of Health Brigade.

Health Brigade was opened in 1970 and was the first free clinic in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Since then, through the decades, the clinic has never backed away from a challenge.

The establishment of a program that offers so many services to low-income individuals is so important. Julie Sulik, Health Brigade’s communications coordinator, says that 50 years of Health Brigade is “50 years of changing almost 11,000 lives a year.”

Health Brigade’s services can be split into three sections: the primary care and medical clinic, the mental health and wellness department, and the outreach and advocacy.

Karen Legato, the executive director of Health Brigade, says that “50 years of Health Brigade is 50 years of quality health and mental health services for people in our community who have been most marginalized.”

Specifically, Health Brigade has always been committed to serving the population and has been at the forefront of the HIV/AIDS crisis since the ’80s, Legato said. Since the 80s, it has continued to do work in the community and link people to services.

Members of Health Brigade’s staff taking part in Equality Virginia’s 2020 Day Of Action. Photo via HealthBrigade/Facebook

One of the newer ways it is helping patients, both mentally and physically, in regard to HIV/AIDS, is by offering a needle exchange program. It started in 2018 and was the first comprehensive harm reduction program in central Virginia. The program is designed to help “prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis C among persons that inject drugs, their families, and the larger community,” according to Health Brigade’s website.

This program provides free needles, wound care supplies, safer sex supplies, syringes for injecting hormones or steroids, testing for hepatitis C,  HIV and other STD/STI’s, and referrals to medical care, mental health and wellness, and substance use treatment, along with other community resources.

It also reaches people in prisons, testing them for HIV/AIDS and offering them proper healthcare while inside the prison system. Even after they get out, Health Brigade helps them with housing and medical treatment.

Bill Harrison, the president and executive director of Diversity Richmond, believes that Health Brigade has made a significant contribution to the city of Richmond by being a place of non-judgment. Through their expansion into larger programs, they have always put their patients first and make sure each patient is receiving proper care, he said.

In addition to its work with AIDS, its transgender health program was one of the first in Virginia. Right now, they see over 200 patients and are able to provide them medical care, even if they don’t have insurance.

The Trans Health program offers coordination of care, hormone treatment & monitoring, breast & chest health, and pelvic wellness and pap smears, as well as even more services in primary medical care. It also offers a range of mental health and support services.

Health Brigade currently only accepts transgender patients who are uninsured but, in the future,  they hope to expand to accept Medicaid so that they can further help trans patients and expand their outreach in the community, Legato said.

From offering safe birth control for women in the 1970s to becoming the place where you could obtain services and support if you were infected or affected by HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and 90s, Health Brigade has always been ahead of the curve. Health Brigade believes that “everyone, especially those least served, deserve quality care,” and their 50-year anniversary is one that deserves celebrating.

Health Brigade’s “Brigala” is on Friday, March 13, 2020, from 6-10 pm at The Jefferson Hotel. Details can be found on their website and tickets can be purchased at https://e.givesmart.com/events/efc/.

Health Brigade Establishes Virginia’s Second Needle Exchange Program in Richmond

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Richmond’s newest campaign to offer intravenous drug users safer resources and greater care quietly kicked off this week, on Monday night in the Museum District. Led by Health Brigade, the group began its Comprehensive Harm Reduction Program, which includes a needle exchange program — the second of its kind in Virginia so far.

Established in 1970 as Virginia’s first free clinic, Health Brigade (originally Fan Free Clinic) will now provide drug users with clean equipment to ensure that fatal diseases transmitted through the blood aren’t spread. Besides this service, Health Brigade will also be collecting and disposing of used needles, referring drug users to substance use treatments and testing for HIV and Hepatitis C, among other services. Health Brigade’s needle exchange program joins 185 similar programs, operating in 38 states across the US.

The treatment and prevention of HIV and Hepatitis C was a focal point of Health Brigade’s recent news release. Noting the opioid crisis that “continues to impact Richmond metro region, and the State of Virginia,” the release stressed the importance of the program — not just for the safety of drug users, but “for first responders, law enforcement, and community members.”

Hepatitis C infections in Virginia have risen to nearly 11,500 cases, an increase of almost 56 percent since 2013, according to data released by the Virginia Department of Health in 2017. It was this rise in infection that led to Virginia’s first needle exchange program being set up in Wise County this summer, after legislation authorizing the creation of these programs was approved in the General Assembly last year.

To date, only 55 localities in the Commonwealth are eligible to apply, thanks in part to resistance by state law enforcement agencies, who serve a critical role in the application process.

Harm reduction programs have proven to be a boon for the communities they’re introduced in. Contrary to concerns from local law enforcement, data has shown that these programs don’t increase drug usage, but instead increase the possibility of users seeking treatment, in addition to decreasing potential harm for officers from needle stick injuries.

How Richmond’s drug users will ultimately respond to the program remains to be seen, with Health Brigade Communications Coordinator Julie Sulik saying that it’ll be awhile before they’ll be able to share the results of their efforts with the public.