And we also do referrals for direct concrete services. A case in point is Sister Connect, an educational and peer program that has been in operation since 1994. We teach them public speaking skills, and they're trained to be peer educators. Then they can go out in the community, and talk to the community that they live in, and provide both the educational piece and also the experiential piece of being a woman living with the virus. To become a part of the Sister Connect program a woman must successfully complete an intense training program.
Classes meet once every two weeks for six months for four hours each.
Participants learn about the female anatomy, treatment options, legal issues, how to read lab results, and effective ways to communicate with healthcare providers. The women receive a small stipend for each class they attend, and a somewhat larger one for each workshop they conduct. No cold introduction is necessary, because the resource person recognizes the Sister Connect program, and may even remember the individual from the training sessions. Evans estimates that there are well over fifty women currently available as speakers, from the 73 women who have graduated from the program since its inception in 1994. The two consumers now serving on the Board are both Sister Connect grads.