 Hello, welcome to Six and Stones. I'm Peter and I'm Brian O'Connor We're your hosts here to share different stories and experiences about being gay and on the show today We're going to hear from the what it was like to be outed in high school in the 1970s We'll also talk to Sarah Holmes who's the coordinator for USM Center for sexuality and gender diversity But first let me introduce to you Matt Robidy. Hi guys Matt is the health specialist at the Franny Pee-Bee Dee Center here in Portland and he's here to talk about their services Matt Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Yes. So tell us a little bit about Franny Pee-Bee Dee Yeah, Franny Pee-Bee Dee Center is Maine's largest and oldest community-based HIV and AIDS Services organization, which is a really long way to describe it but what our mission is is to prevent the spread of HIV and To assist people living with HIV and AIDS in the state of Maine and we provide services for them How long has the center been Opened. Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I guess you'd have to start from the base like the beginning of it Because you it has to kind of go rich history and that's why I feel honored to work there Franny Pee-Bee Dee Center was named after Francis Pee-Bee Dee who was this amazing inspirational lady in 1984 her grandson died of AIDS and This was a huge shock to her during that time that was when the epidemic like hit so strong and when her grandson died It catapulted this 80 year old lady at the age of 80. She became an activist into Working in the field of HIV and AIDS first started off joining a support group. She was the only single single gray-haired little dress wearing Elderly women an entire room full of gay men, which is pretty awesome in there itself And from that she got involved. She read led weekly support groups for mothers and families People living with HIV and people dying of AIDS at that time in 1995 Yeah, well, she was actually one of the co-founders of the AIDS project and in 1995 is when the Peabody House started and that was a hospice more or less for people dying of AIDS at that time And they're still here today. No, it actually closed down in 2001 Franny Peabody passed away and then in 2002 in honor of her legacy the Franny Peabody Center in the AIDS project merged and The Peabody House actually closed down shortly before that because the advancements and medications and treatment of people living with HIV And AIDS has progressed so much that the need for a hospice wasn't needed But the need for services for people living with HIV and AIDS were So like to all of our viewers out there, I run into so many people that are so stigmatized by HIV and AIDS And I think that's where a lot of fear towards homosexuals comes from if you were to say anything to those people out there I mean, what would you say about HIV? today HIV today is a disease disease that you can manage throughout your life. It's not a death sentence anymore We are educated. We are aware. We're a supportive community and If it's something that scares you I encourage people to educate themselves upon it because it's not a scary topic it's something that people should be talking about that So many people hide and don't actually disclose to others because they live in that shame and that fear of that stigma But should be looked at anything else like if a friend has cancer, do you hide that from a friend? No, if you find out you have cancer you're gonna talk to them about that and they're gonna support you through that right and in my mind It's 2014. I mean, it's like, you know years and years after the epidemic has hit us We've already gone through the hard times the sad times the times of misinformation and in my mind it's just kind of this educate ourselves and supports community and You know support our brothers and sisters that are living with HIV if if I were to Be at risk for HIV because I was inappropriate at a certain time or whatever. What's the best course of treatment for me? Yeah, definitely in general what we say is Everybody should be in my opinion. It changes. I think everybody should take your an idea of an HIV test Like you would for your physical definitely make sure you get one a year, you know and depends on the level of sexuality sexual activity Get to a year if you find yourself being more sexually active get three like, you know balance it out in regards to what type of sex and the amount of sex that you're having in general But if one were to be oh, yeah, but with one word to be exposed, you know If you had a known exposure to HIV, is that what we're getting at or just whether you were worried about it afterwards Because you didn't think about it at the time or you don't know the status of the other person you never asked or whatever it is Yeah, what do you do with that anxiety? Where you know, where's the best place to go? It sounds like it is to go get treated. Yeah I mean, that's like a great thing is what we provided at our office at a one spring street Which is perfectly located next to sticks nightclub in Portland But it's a place that we want to create when we that we have that it's not sterile you go and we're listening to music We have fun posters. We have plants everywhere. It's beautiful. It's great. We have Very educated community members, you know, that are also working there and volunteering So when somebody comes in with these questions these concerns Possible exposure to HIV and they don't know how to navigate that instead of sweating bullets and trying to Make a phone call to get into your primary care, which yeah, it may take three days And it's gonna be awesome And I'm not saying don't do that but in that three days, that's a lot of anxiety to go through Right, so take advantage of a community resource come down and sit in a room of somebody that's it's completely confidential It's completely non-miss. You don't have to tell your name and say this is what I'm going through This is what I experienced Can you help me from point a to point b because it totally depends on the situation for people and HIV is kind of a tricky thing. It's it's different for everybody a different exposure Can lead to a different answer? So Never Google or WebMD yourself on it. They'll give you a heart attack Right take advantage of the community resources that Portland has and what if I'm at risk for other Sexually transmitted diseases or or I think I might be what where would I go with that? Yeah, definitely like I said the same thing is your primary care Is a great place to go from there and then over at Portland Public Health on the industry is a great place They do their walk-in clinics for STDs testing and they also do HIV The the benefit of I would say the benefit because I love India Street and I go there actually personally myself Is right like why not it's take advantage of an amazing resource we have They do the full gamut of STDs and that should be something that's taken very seriously I feel like you know, we were having this discussion earlier about you know I don't think that people put much attention to STDs as also as Strong of an emphasis as they do on HIV, right? I mean you have STDs But many guys don't show signs of symptoms of STDs, right? You know we can carry that and pass it along to another right to have an STD Can increase your chance of contracting HIV due to your immune system dropping so it kind of goes hand-in-hand so India Street's a great one on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Three to five forty five p.m. They do a STD clinic there And then just pop in see us get an HIV test get your 20-minute result They am right there or go to your physician or go to your primary care physician for sure and thanks again Matt for coming Yeah, really. Thanks. That was really great. Appreciate it. Thank you guys