TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | j u n e 2 0 1 7 15 "I get mad sometimes at the fact that he had the audacity not only to take his own life in his hands, but mine, also," Harris said. "Because of PrEP, I feel like I have taken the control back." For patients who are not on PrEP, like the homeless man who reached out to Flash for help, there is also hope. Nonoccupational Postexposure Prophylaxis, or nPEP, is a two-pill regimen of anti-HIV drugs that must be taken once a day for 28 days and must be taken within 72 hours of engaging in risky behavior. "If you are in a network of people where HIV is common and you think that you are at high risk, then From Crisis to Prevention Thomas Street Health Center has been leading HIV/AIDS care for decades I n between seeing patients at Thomas Street Health Center—a freestanding HIV/AIDS clinic—Charlene Flash, M.D., takes a phone call from Ben Taub Hospital. A homeless patient concerned about contract- ing HIV through risky sexual behavior asked Harris Health System for medicine to prevent him from getting the virus. Until recently, this wouldn't have been a possibility. "The clinic used to be a place where we served HIV infectious people only," said Flash, assistant medical director of HIV prevention services for Harris Health System and assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at Baylor College of Medicine. "Our care focus has shifted and there are drugs available now that help us prevent patients from contracting the disease." A drug called PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis) is prescribed to patients who possess a high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. PrEP contains two HIV medi- cations, tenofovir and emtricitabine, bundled into one pill trademarked as Truvada that must be taken once a day to be effective. PrEP saved Regina Harris' marriage and her life. "For me, May 16 is a day that is drilled in the back of my mind," Harris said. "It's the day my husband of 20 years was diagnosed with HIV through sexual contact with another person." Harris has been on PrEP since September 2016. Because she takes her pill every morning at 8 a.m. and visits the health center once every three months, she has not contracted HIV from her husband. "As a provider, it is very empowering to have this tool to offer my patients," Flash said. "If you have been married for 20 years and you don't want to desert your husband when he is sick, PrEP is something that allows you to maintain the emotional security of the relationship without this ongoing fear." Because of their children and the life she and her husband have built together over the past two decades, Harris is committed to staying in her marriage. B y B r i t n i N . R i l e y perhaps instead of always having this emergency and a fire drill, it would be better to just be on something once a day," Flash said. There are currently 1.2 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS, as well as another 1.2 million men and women with a substantial risk of contracting the disease based on their lifestyles. To address this, Harris Health System has increased their testing efforts substantially. "When I started at Harris Health, we established a new testing program for HIV/AIDS called Routine Universal Screening for HIV, or RUSH," said Ken Malone, HIV project analyst at Harris Health System. "We make it a routine practice throughout Harris Health to test patients for HIV/AIDS unless the patient opts out. We have now done over 600,000 tests." This mysterious disease For more than 30 years, Harris Health has offered a safe haven for patients suffering from HIV/AIDS. In 1989, Harris Health took their care to the next level, opening Thomas Street Clinic—now known as Thomas Street Health Center. The staff is proud to say that they work for the first free-standing AIDS clinic in the United States. (continued) For me, May 16 is a day that is drilled in the back of my mind. It's the day my husband of 20 years was diagnosed with HIV through sexual contact with another person. — REGINA HARRIS Patient at Thomas Street Health Center

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