Town Hall Meeting on Monkey Pox

HIV + Aging Research Project Palm Springs (HARP-PS) is convening a second public town hall meeting for community leaders with county public health officials and our local providers to inform the community about monkeypox in the Coachella Valley via Zoom. 

Last month, a group of providers & community leaders started meeting about how to coordinate the response to monkeypox  across the valley.  We have invited the County Public Health Officer and members of the health dept to come brief us on their response, vaccine availability, etc.  We will also discuss how to message this to the affected communities.  

The meeting will be this Thursday, 7/14 @ 5pm.  

Here's the Zoom link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82946544419?pwd=RFZITG9XUmg5emJCcExFbUxYblZ1UT09

Dr Chevinsky has several proposed designs for flyers and/or rack cards, so we will review those on the call and vote on the most appropriate ones for our community.  The rest of the call will be about the logistics of testing & vaccinations, and importantly how we can advocate with the state to increase our allocation of vaccines so we can vaccinate those at highest risk as they are in other jurisdictions, to proactively stop the spread.  

Here's a draft proposed agenda:

• Welcome & introductions
• Outreach materials (Dr Chevinsky)
• Vote on materials
• Current testing & vaccine access 
• How to expand & improve testing & vaccinations:
  • Testing locations & procedures:  RUHS clinic on Sunrise & Tahquitz?  Other local STI clinics?  
  • One stop visit with testing, risk assessment, and vaccine if appropriate?
  • Vaccine availability:  Moreno Valley, nurse home visits, RUHS PS clinic, other STI clinics?
• Advocating with CADPH for more vaccines for those at risk, not just confirmed cases 
• Addressing high risk special populations:  Sex workers?  Meth users?  Those with concomitant STIs?
• Other topics?

Please share with community leaders & providers you think should be there

Here are some resources on Monkey Pox

• Harm-reduction messaging on how to lower chances of getting monkeypox during Pride events (CDC) 
• Building Healthy Online Communities Resources, including Health Alerts in English and Spanish
• Monkeypox: Get the Facts Flyer (CDC) 
• Social Gatherings, Safer Sex, and Monkeypox Fact Sheet (CDC)