Long Beach HIV/STD Strategy Fall 2021 Digest

Long Beach HIV/STD Strategy 2019-2022 Quarterly Digest

Fall 2021 Digest

Long Beach Health Department Collaborates With UCLA to Bring One-Stop Mobile Clinic Delivering HIV, Substance Use Care to Multi-Service Center

Councilmember Mary Zendejas (center) cuts the ribbon at the Open House Event on August 4, 2021

Inside the HPTN 094 Mobile Unit

As part of the Strategy's goal to reduce HIV and STD infections in Long Beach, the Health Department is participating in a new clinical study trial, in partnership with University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health, to deliver health services to improve HIV and substance use outcomes. The mobile health clinic is temporarily located at the Multi-Service Center (MSC), which primarily serves people experiencing homelessness. The clinic is planning to add more locations soon.

HIV/STD Strategic Implementation Specialist Joins Team

(Left to right: Dr. Steve Shoptaw, Ray Morquecho, Everardo Alvizo, Paul Duncan, Council member Mary Zendejas)

Meet Everardo Alvizo, LCSW

Everardo joined the City as HIV/STD Strategic Implementation Specialist in August of 2020. Everardo has been steering the implementation of the Long Beach HIV/STD Strategy 2019-2022.

Prior to this role, Everardo was a Bilingual Clinical Social Worker providing psychotherapy at school and community sites in South Los Angeles and the South Bay working with children, adults and families. Everardo also led a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) funded project, Health Integration for At-Risk Racial Ethnic Communities (HIARC) which integrated mental health, substance use counseling and primary care for men who have sex with men and trans women at risk for or living with HIV in Koreatown and Los Angeles.

Everardo is a David Bohnett Mayoral Public Service Fellow and received his B.A. in Sociology and minor in Latin American Studies in 2003 and Master of Social Welfare in 2008, both from UCLA.

He can be reached at Everardo.Alvizo@longbeach.gov.

Moving the Strategy Forward Amid a New Pandemic

The Long Beach HIV/STD Strategy 2019-2022 was created in 2019 to address high rates of HIV/STDs in Long Beach. Less than a year after unveiling the strategy, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted work across the city. But since September, 2020, the Long Beach HIV/STD Strategy goals have been moving forward through the power of virtual gatherings and communication.

Following are some highlights since the strategy was unveiled. The City has:

Honored and recognized Transgender Day of Remembrance and created the Long Beach Trans Wellness Workgroup, which meets monthly from 11 a.m. to noon on the first Monday of the month (November, 2020)
Honored and recognized World AIDS Day 2020 through a City of Long Beach Proclamation and statements from Mayor Robert Garcia and other local leaders and lighting city sites in red (December, 2020)

(Clockwise from top left) Long Beach Airport, Long Beach City Hall, and Long Beach sign off 710 Freeway

Worked with Long Beach Comprehensive HIV Planning Group (HPG) to put together a website to honor World AIDS Day 2020 which has since transitioned to be HPG’s landing/Long Beach resources page (December, 2020)
Partnered with CSULB School of Social Work to explore effective interventions to increase PrEP access in North (90805) and Downtown (90813) Long Beach (December, 2020 - May, 2021)
Hosted five virtual community seminars in partnership with the HPG honoring HIV/AIDS awareness in Black/African American community in Long Beach, women and girls, youth, intersections between Asian/Pacific Islander community and mental health and the 40th anniversary of the first report of HIV/AIDS between February, 2021 and today
Partnered with Act Now Against Meth campaign to work with local partners to raise awareness and advocate for policy changes around the impact of methamphetamine use on HIV/STD transmission (March, 2021)
Collaborated with UCLA Health on HIV/STD harm reduction efforts as noted above
Facilitated a partnership between AltaMed and Long Beach Unified School District to provide virtual sexual health curriculum instruction to Long Beach high school youth - reached 2,052 youth (January, 2021 through June, 2021)

Moving forward, we continue to partner with federal, state and local partners to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic and meet our HIV/STD Strategy 2019-2022 goals.

Save the Date!

The next quarterly Long Beach Comprehensive HIV Planning Group meeting will take place at 12pm on October 13, 2021. The meeting will take place virtually via WebEx and is open to all.

For more information, or to RSVP, contact Everardo at Everardo.Alvizo@longbeach.gov.

Connect with the Health Department on social!