Covid-19, Stigma, & it’s Impact on Marginalized Communities – Part 2
Covid-19, Stigma, & it’s Impact on Marginalized Communities – Part 2
This 2 -hour virtual panel discussion is the SECOND of a TWO PART series examining the impact of stigma and COVID-19 on marginalized communities. The first part of the series featured leaders of the largest harm reduction policy organizations in New York and the nation as well as representatives from New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and New York State Department of Health. The second part of this two-part series brings in outreach workers, case managers, peers, and other frontline workers’ perspectives on this topic.
Objectives:
- Examine how stigma has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Explain the responses by NYC/NYS health departments and large advocacy organizations.
- Discuss various ways of that stigma of marginalized communities, particularly stigma facing people who use drugs (PWUD), has impacted the city and state’s COVID-19 response
Moderators:
Hiawatha Collins, Harm Reduction Community Mobilization Coordinator and
Jose Martinez, Hepatitis C and Harm Reduction Associate
Panelists:
Terrell Jones is the Outreach and Advocacy Program Manager at New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE). Terrell is a passionate advocate, activist, and inspiration for drug users, sex workers, the homeless, and other marginalized communities. Terrell Jones is a former drug user who, like many other people of color, was incarcerated because of his drug use. Determined to change the racist drug laws in New York State, stigma associated with drug use and that often resulted in his being denied job and housing opportunities, Terrell became an advocate for drug policy reform, an activist to advance harm reduction throughout New York City and New York State, and a vocal supporter of giving people a second chance. Terrell has now been in the harm reduction field for over 12 years and worked his way up from participant, to peer educator, to staff, and now to the management team. In his current role at NYHRE, he often collaborates with the Drug Policy Alliance and VOCAL NY. Terrell is also Senior Co-Chair of the Peer Network of New York where he emphasizes the professional and personal development of peers working in the field of harm reduction. Terrell’s work has brought him around the country giving talks and advocating for harm reduction policies and practices to be used to assist drug users, sex workers, and other individuals impacted by the war on drugs.
Tamara Oyola-Santiago is a public health educator and activist. Areas of life work include harm reduction grounded in social justice and equity in Puerto Rico and New York City, HIV/AIDS de-criminalization, and self-determination & anti-colonial practices. She is co-founder of Bronx Móvil, a fully bilingual (Spanish-English) mobile harm reduction and syringe services program that strives for drug user health and mobilization. Tamara is also part of the What Would an HIV Doula Do collective, a community of people joined in response to the ongoing AIDS Crisis.
Luke Grandis, 31, Albany, NY, is a transgender and queer harm reductionist and is the Statewide Organizer for VOCAL-NY, a grassroots not-for-profit organization fighting to end the war on drugs, homelessness, mass incarceration & AIDS. Luke is also a member of the End Overdose NY coalition and identifies as a person in remission from opioid dependency.
Reilly Glasgow manages prevention programs and Director of the Opioid Overdose Prevention Program at Alliance LES Harm Reduction Center. The program he runs is client-centered, so his day is shaped by the clients who drop in. On any given day, his work requires him to be police officer, friend, navigator, de-escalator, life saver, medical assistant, spiritual assistant, group facilitator, counselor, therapist, administrator, and more. Though his work is difficult, he finds it gratifying because he bears witness to people turning their lives around; he sees people live and breathe after overdosing. While Reilly began his career as an accountant for the Newark Housing Authority, an experience with substance use became a turning point for him. He changed courses and pursued a career in counseling, training to become a CASAC (Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor). Because Reilly is a CASAC with extensive experience training and using naloxone to save lives, identifying and helping people overdosing has become a way of life for him. He can’t walk by someone who appears to be sleeping on the subway, against a building, or in a stairwell. He uses his training and experience to see what kind of help that person needs. And if they are overdosing, he administers Narcan. He has saved approximately 50 people from overdose death.
Prerequisite: None
Audience: All health and human service providers, including Peers Workers
