“We strive to end the stigma of HIV. That is our biggest fight,” said Rogelio Capote, Senior Vice president and Chief Communications officer for CAN Community Health. “We want to make sure that individuals that are seeking treatment and are affected by it do not receive stigmatization when they are receiving any care from us.” CAN Community Health is a national not-for-profit organization that provides testing, treatment, and education for HIV, Hep C, and other sexually transmitted Infections.
Founded in 1991 by Susan Terry, CAN began in an old laundromat in downtown Sarasota during the height of the HIV epidemic, CAN community health has grown to now “being in 6 states with over 30 locations nationwide,” Capote said. Working with a heat map showing the prevalence of HIV, CAN uses this resource to expand in specific communities where the need for their services is greatest. “We follow that prevalence map quite consistently in our growth, and where we see that need most in the communities that we serve,” Capote said.
First discovered by the medical community in 1981, HIV and AIDS ballooned into a national epidemic, reaching its height in the 1990s. Through unsafe sexual activity, tainted blood supply in blood banks, needle sharing, and mother to child transmission, HIV became the leading cause of death for all Americans aged 25 to 44 in the year 1994.
A virus that spreads through body fluids and attacks the body’s immune system, HIV weakens the body to be vulnerable to a host of life-threatening infections, a sign of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). While there is currently no cure for HIV, “individuals with HIV can live a normal healthy life as long as they maintain their medical regimen,” explained Capote.
That’s where CAN Community Health comes in, providing access to life-changing medical support. With clinics in Florida, Arizona, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, CAN not only offers “medical care to individuals living with and affected by HIV, but we also offer dental care, behavioral health, nutrition services,” and many more, including “in-house Pharmacies where our patients and clients are able to come in for a visit,” Capote said.
Through their prevention efforts and outreach, CAN is working to spread awareness both about HIV and the services they provide to combat it. “We go out into communities, we partner with other local organizations so that they can help spread the word of the services we provide, but also network with the community members and really spread the word of what the organization does,” Capote said. Their new Community Health Initiative is reaching out to minorities by “focusing primarily on the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) community,” Capote said, “because they are one of the communities that are affected most by HIV and STD, and we want to make sure that we are able to destigmatize that, and make sure that those individuals that may be living affected by it know that they can come and receive treatment.”
Members of the chamber since January of 2022, CAN community is currently in the process of moving their headquarters to Ybor City in order to enhance the services they offer in the Tampa Bay area.
“We have a saying here at CAN that, ‘It will be a beautiful day when we are able to say that HIV has a cure,” Capote said. In the meantime, the community can rely on CAN.
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