Patrick
Patrick got tested for HIV as a joke. It was 1994, he was in his early 20s, and there was a mobile van going through the neighborhood providing testing. He and his friends dared each other to do it and went in one by one for their testing. One by one, they came out and reported they didn’t have HIV. And Patrick did the same—even though he had just tested positive.
“I grew up in housing projects in Chicago,” he says. “Living there, I definitely couldn’t come back and put that out there. So I was suffering with living with it, but I was also suffering because it was a secret I had. I couldn’t tell anybody.”
After his diagnosis, Patrick attempted to get care in Chicago but struggled to commit to it.
“There was a free clinic,” he says. “But it was like, a really taboo place to go in.”
Without any kind of support, and without treatment, Patrick spiraled. He was doing crack. He was sleeping around, having unprotected sex without disclosing his status. And when he needed cash to fund his drug habit, he would turn to sex work or to forging checks.
It was the forgery that got him. Even though the check amounts were small, he says, there were enough of them for Patrick to be arrested and sentenced to prison, where he served three years.
All things considered, Patrick did well in prison. He remained sober while he was there. And, for the first time, he began receiving HIV care, being transported from prison to the UW Health Infectious Disease Clinic in his prison uniform and shackles.
Patrick continued to see that same physician after he was released from prison. And even though he was learning how to manage his HIV, he was still struggling. He fell back into drugs, and having to keep his HIV a secret was still eating him up.
“I would share with my doctor that I wished there was somewhere out there where I could talk to people,” he says. “When I went to the doctor, I could be free, but I wanted somewhere else I could experience that. So that’s how I got directed to Vivent Health.”
Patrick began by attending a support group and finally found the community of support he had been looking for.
“It. Was. Freeing.” he says. “Let me tell you, I felt so free. I could talk about anything. I was able to be free with my sexuality.”
Pretty soon, Patrick was signed up with a case manager at Vivent Health, and he began to see that the support he was given was unconditional.
When he missed a few appointments, a case manager came to his home to check on him. When Patrick got stranded one night after hours and needed help, a case manager came and picked him up. If Patrick couldn’t make rent, his team figured out how to help so Patrick could keep his apartment.
“They’ve always been there for me,” he says. “Never have they looked at me any kind of way. Never have I felt embarrassed to go in there and tell them I’ve messed up again. They just get started on finding help. I’ve never had them do anything other than that.”
Patrick also began seeing a therapist through Vivent Health, something that was pivotal in helping him being to recognize and heal from some childhood trauma.
“I look at Vivent Health as my first line of defense to whatever happens in my day-to-day life that I feel like I can’t handle,” he says. “That’s where I go. That’s who I call.”
Today, Patrick’s life looks wildly different than it used to. He’s sober. He’s undetectable. He’s working at a nonprofit that offers services to survivors of sexual exploitation and trafficking—an organization Patrick first used as a client before joining as staff. He’s a regular guest speaker on panels where he can share his experiences living with HIV with medical students and providers. He has a teenage daughter he coparents with her mom, both of whom are HIV-negative, and he enjoys a great relationship with his adult son and four grandchildren. He’s also excited that, after years of having financial assistance to pay his bills, he’s supporting himself and his family on his own now.
“My life now is pretty great,” he says. “I have ups and downs, sure, but it’s pretty carefree. I work. I pay my rent. I have a little car. Vivent Health has helped me with all of that. I can’t imagine life without having the support of Vivent Health.”