Apps & Mobile Sites about Health

Do you use apps on a smartphone or other mobile device? Did you know that there are thousands of great apps and mobile websites to learn about health, from practical tools like medication schedulers to comprehensive resources like the MedlinePlus Mobile site, from calorie counters to Narcotics Anonymous meeting finders to a game called “Catch the Condom”?

The AIDS Library and the Critical Path Project have created a series of guides to spread the word about how many great apps and mobile sites are available to be used by anyone with a mobile device. Below are six guides, each aimed at a different population:

• People Living With HIV/AIDS: APPlify Your Health – PLWHA
• Men Who Have Sex With Men: APPlify Your Health – MSM
• Women: APPlify Your Health – Women
• Youth: APPlify Your Health – Youth
• Healthcare Providers: APPlify Your Health – Providers
• Anyone interested in Addiction & Recovery: APPlify Your Health – Addiction & Recovery

Use these guides to learn more about apps and mobile sites that can help you learn more about health.

In addition, the Critical Path Project is offering a workshop on this issue, APPlify Your Health. Go to their website to learn more and get signed up.

Free Tax Help in Philadelphia – 2013

Free Tax Help 2013 - Click here to download the AIDS Library’s printable pathfinder to free tax help in Philadelphia, updated for 2013.

WHERE TO GET FREE HELP FILING TAXES

Volunteer Income Tax Program – The IRS runs VITA to give free tax-filing assistance to low- and moderate-income individuals and families. See flier attached to this email for a complete list of sites in Philadelphia

Remember:

• These sites are not VITA centers. They are places that host VITA volunteers.  Although some VITA sites for 2013 are walk-in only, call the phone numbers (on the flier) before going to any of these locations.  Availability and hours will vary.
• People must bring the following to VITA appointments:
  • proof of ID
  • Social Security card for you, your spouse and dependents; if not eligible for a Social Security then, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) assignment letter for you, your spouse and dependents
  • birth dates of all family members
  • all wage and earning statements from employers (W-2, 1099)
  • a copy of last year’s returns if available
  • bank routing numbers and account number for Direct Deposit, such as a blank check
  • total paid for day care provider and the day care provider’s tax identifying number (the provider’s Social Security Number or the provider’s business Employer Identification Number)
  • any other tax information received in the mail

  ***To file taxes electronically on a married filing joint tax return, both spouses must be present to sign the required forms.

To find VITA sites beyond Philadelphia, search here, or call the free hotline: 1-800-906-9887.

Honickman Learning Center – A program of Project H.O.M.E.  For more info about free tax-filing or to schedule an appointment, call 215-235-2900.

The Campaign for Working Families – The CWF website includes a chart of who is eligible for their services. Their website includes a map of their 11 Philadelphia tax prep sites.  Anyone hoping to use this service should call the number of the location (listed at that website) to make an appointment.

American Association of Retired Persons – Folks of low-to-middle income who are 60 or older can get free services through AARP, as part of the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program. To locate the nearest site, call 1-888-227-7669, or search for a site online.

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DOING TAXES YOURSELF

The Benefit Bank’s Self-Serve Edition – A free online tax service for anyone who has an Adjusted Gross Income of $60,000 or less, designed to be a self-serve program.

MyFreeTaxes.com – Despite a name that makes it sound like a commercial scam, this is a collaboration of Campaign for Working Families, United Way, and Wal-Mart, to provide free online tax software, as well as additional tax tips.

Paper Tax Forms – all tax forms are available free to download from the IRS’s website.  Here are webpages with:

• The IRS’s Federal forms
• The PA Revenue Department’s State forms
• The Federation of Tax Administrators’ Map for finding forms from other states
•  The Philadelphia Department of Revenue’s City forms

Order Tax Forms by Phone – You can also call the IRS at 1-800-829-3676 to order forms by US mail. Individuals can order up to 10 forms (or other IRS publications).

Disability and Non-English Speakers – The Philadelphia Revenue Department also offers large print bills, Braille bills, audio cassettes and foreign language telephone interpreter services for folks doing taxes.  To request these, call 215-686-6600.

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MORE TAX INFORMATION

Earned Income Tax Credit – An IRS.gov webpage about EITC, which helps people who work but make low salaries reduce their tax payment or get a refund. Also see EITC and Disability webpage.

Taxpayer Rights – An IRS.gov webpage about rights regarding taxes, including various publications and factsheets.  A few highlights of the page that may be of use to our clients (or us):

• Collection Procedures FAQ
• Refund FAQ
• Name Change FAQ

Identity Theft – The IRS also offers an Identity Theft Hotline at 1-800-908-4490 for anyone who believes:

• That their tax records are currently affected by identity theft and that they have not been able to resolve the matter
• They may be at risk of identity theft due to a lost/stolen purse or wallet, questionable credit card activity or credit report

IRS.gov also has a webpage with additional information regarding Identity Theft and Your Tax Records.

Plain Talk Tax Guide – a 13-page guide from the Philadelphia Revenue Department.  This page also has videos that offer tax assistance, though they focus mostly on business taxes.

Health Videos Online

The AIDS Library has many movies and documentaries in its collection.  In addition, we maintain a list of online videos that we recommend to learn more about HIV/AIDS, activism, medical news, and other topics, from reliable sources including the National Library of Medicine, Planned Parenthood, PBS, and our very own YouTube page.

Click on the links below to get our printer-friendly handouts about these recommended videos.  We update this information regularly, but we do not control any of this content (other than our YouTube page), so we cannot guarantee that it will be available when you try to access it.  If you find broken links, please contact us so we can remove them.

• Health Videos Online – Complete List
• Health Videos Online – HIVAIDS Info
• Health Videos Online – HIVAIDS & LGBT Activism
• Health Videos Online – Medical News & Healthcare
• Health Videos Online – General Health & Wellness
• Health Videos Online – Safer Sex, Drugs, & Harm Reduction
• Health Videos Online – Women’s Health
• Health Videos Online – Documentaries about Medicine & Science
• Health Videos Online – Local Philadelphia Videos

If there is something you don’t see here but would like to, such as a specific video or a broader topic, please contact us about that as well.

Hepatitis C Information

In the AIDS Library

These materials are available in the AIDS Library.  Come on down when we’re open and check them out!

• HCV/HIV Coinfection Information, by the American Liver Foundation
• Hepatitis & Liver Disease: What You Need to Know (Revised Edition), by Melissa Palmer, M.D.
• Hepatitis C, The First Year: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed (2^nd Edition), by Cara Bruce and Lisa Montanarelli
• The Hepatitis C Handbook, by Matthew Dolan
• HIV, Hepatitis C, and You: A Guide for Coinfected People, by The Body
• What You Need to Know About HIV/HCV Coinfection, by the National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project

Info for People Living with Hepatitis C

For the basics, see:

• What I need to know about Hepatitis C, from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases – with easy-to-read text and lots of pictures
• Patient Education Resources, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – for printer-friendly color materials
• First Steps with Hepatitis C for the Newly Diagnosed, from the Hepatitis C Support Project

People with further questions can call 877-HELP-4-HEP, a national support line from The Support Partnership (TSP), a collaboration of four national hepatitis C organizations.

For info on HCV treatment

• Treatment Factsheets from HCV Advocate, including:
  • All FDA-Approved Medications
  • Predictors of Treatment Response
  • Managing Side Effects
• Herbal Dietary Supplements Glossary, from HCV Advocate – with special comments for people with liver problems

For help paying for treatment, see Project Inform’s list of Patient Assistance Programs.

For specific issues for people living with HCV, see:

• Hepatitis & Tattoos, from the Hepatitis C Support Project
• Diet and Nutrition for people living with HCV, from the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA)
• Alcohol and Hepatitis C, from the DVA
• Vaccinations of Adults with Hepatitis C Infection, from the Immunization Action Coalition

For info about HIV/HCV coinfection, see

• A Guide to HIV and Hep C Coinfection, from the Hepatitis C Support Project – colorful, printable, and aimed at patients
• HIV and Viral Hepatitis, from the CDC – including statistical info
• TheBody.com’s Ask the Experts Hepatitis and HIV Coinfection forum

For HCV info in language other than English, see

• A enormous amount of info in Spanish, from HCV Advocate
• Multilingual HIV and Hepatitis C Factsheets, from Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service – in Akan, Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian, Burmese, Chinese, Croatian, Greek, French, Indonesian, Italian, Khmer, Korean, Macedonian, Portuguese, Serbian, Spanish, Shona, Somali, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese
• Foreign Language Publications, also from HCV Advocate, in Bulgarian, Chinese, French, Hmong, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Somali
• HCV Info in Urdu, from the Hepatitis Trust in the United Kingdom

For issues around benefits, see A Guide to Hepatitis & Disability, from the Hepatitis C Support Project

For personal stories about HCV, see:

• HCV Advocate’s Personal Stories
• The Hepatitis C Trust’s Personal Stories
• Hepatitis Australia’s Treatment, Life, Hep C, and Me

Research, Provider Info, and More

To follow clinical research and other HCV news, see

• NAM AIDSmap’s Hepatitis C news page
• Hepatitis C Research and News
• HIVandHepatitis.com, for news focusing on co-infection
• Recent News in HCV Care, from Project Inform

For statistics, see:

• Hepatitis C Statistics and Surveillance, from the CDC – for in-depth statistics
• Hepatitis C FAQs for Health Professionals – for a narrative that puts those statistics in context

For provider info, see:

• HIV & Hepatitis Coinfections: Management & Treatment Guidelines, from the Hepatitis C Support Project
• Considerations for Antiretroviral Use in Patients with HIV/HCV Coinfection, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Testing Recommendations for Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection, from the CDC

For prevention with certain populations, see:

• Viral Hepatitis And Men Who Have Sex with Men, from the CDC
• Injection Drug Users and Viral Hepatitis, from the CDC

For multimedia, see:

• The CDC’s 5-minute interactive Hepatitis Risk Assessment
• The Patient Education Institute’s Hepatitis C Interactive Tutorial

The New PA Voter ID Law

The information below reflects what was current in the run-up to the election in Fall 2012.  Much of this information is now old, and it is likely to change based on policies and laws implemented before future elections.  We have decided to keep this information here for reference, but please be aware that some of it may be old.  Please contact the AIDS Library if you need assistance.

In the AIDS Library

There’s a special display about this law in the AIDS Library, just to your left when you walk in the door.  You can send folks by any time we’re open to pick up:

• Know Your Voting Rights: Pennsylvania, by the ACLU of Pennsylvania
• Need a Photo ID? I Can Help, by the office of State Senator Shirley M. Kitchen
• Specific Voter ID Issues for Homeless Voters, by the Committee of Seventy
• Voting Rights of Ex-Felons in Pennsylvania, by the ACLU of Pennsylvania
• Official voter registration forms
• Information about the free photo ID that PennDOT will give out, adapted from the PennDOT website
• Information about obtaining a birth certificate in Pennsylvania adapted from the PA Dept of Health website

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Making Sure Your Clients (or You!) Can Vote

The Committee of Seventy has a comprehensive PA Voter ID Law website on this law, including:

• Education Guides for specific populations, including Seniors, Students, and the Homeless
• Palm cards on the ID law in Spanish, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Korean, and Vietnamese

The ACLU of Pennsylvania has a Voter ID Law website, which includes:

• A list of acceptable IDs for voting
• How to get a free PennDOT ID for voting
• A site where you can order free materials to educate people around  this law, as well as many PDFs of these materials that can be printed online

There are two hotlines to help people with this law:

• The Voter ID Coalition: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683), answered live, Monday – Friday, 9am to 5pm
• The Department of State’s Voter ID Hotline:1-877-VotesPA (215-868-3772)

For folks without the necessary ID, PennDOT offers instructions for Obtaining a Free PennDOT Secure ID for Voting, as well as list of documents needed to get that ID.

Getting the documents needed to get an ID can be difficult.  Here are the government’s instructions on how to get:

• A birth certificate
• A social security card
• A certificate of U.S. Citizenship
• A certificate of U.S. Naturalization

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More About Voting

For comprehensive instructions on how to register to vote, see the PA Department of State’s How to Register page.  To confirm that a person is registered to vote, see their Voter Registration Status page.

For folks who’ve been incarcerated, see the ACLU’s Voting Rights of Ex-Felons in PA

The Vote for Homes Coalition is running a free Voter Registration Training with special attention to this new law.  You can sign up here.

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Learn More About the Voter ID Law

To learn more about the law and the issues surrounding it, see:

• The PA Department of State’s website about the law
• The text of the law itself
• Info about the lawsuit being brought against the state around the law

There’s been a lot of news coverage and opinions about the law.  Here are some highlights:

• Pa. Supreme Court Takes Up Voter ID Law This Week – recent news about the status of the law in the PA courts
• City, Groups Working to Spread Word on Voter ID Law – recent news on voter education around the law
• Corbett: No SNAFUs on Election Day because of Voter ID – with Governor Corbett’s take on the issue
• Partisan Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Wrongly Upheld by Court – for a more critical take
• A Whopping 43 percent of Philly Voters May Not Have Voter ID, According to New Data – for more on how this might affect Philadelphia
• Voter-ID Trial Puts Trans, Elderly Constituents on Stand –local LGBT-focused take on the issue
• Voting Rights Issue Heats Up in Battleground States Ohio, Pennsylvania – for some national context and comparison to our neighbor state to the west

The International AIDS Conference (roundup)

This blog post was written in the period following the IAC.  Some of the news stories and round-ups below may be removed or altered.  Please contact the AIDS Library if you need assistance.

The AIDS Library has many publications brought back from the International AIDS Conference 2012.  These cover a broad range: comprehensive reports from global organizations, focused reports on new prevention and treatment techniques, studies of drug policy in specific countries, special HIV/AIDS issues of academic journals, and much more.

We have compiled a complete list of Materials from AIDS 2012 in the AIDS Library (click that link for a PDF listing these materials by subject).  Anyone interested in global AIDS policy should have a look, as many of these publications are not available anywhere else in Philadelphia.

Highlights of these materials are currently in a special display in the AIDS Library.  The rest are available to be viewed in the Library.

For webcasts of all opening plenaries and many important workshops, see the Kaiser Family Foundation’s AIDS 2012 Wrap-Up.

For a general report, see the International AIDS Society’s:

• photo gallery
• YouTube page – including interviews with many of the major speakers
• daily bulletins with highlights of each days events

For a report on clinical research, see NAM AIDSmap’s extensive conference bulletins (available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Italian!)

For reports from U.S. government agencies, see AIDS.gov and the AIDS.gov YouTube page, including the video of speeches from Hillary Clinton, Anthony Fauci, Eric Goosby, and more.

There are a many other reports on the conference.  Here are some that might be of interest:

• Many voices from TheBody.com
• Many voices from the Prevention Justice Alliance
• Kevin Fenton and Akiba Solomon at The Root
• Local coverage from The Washington Post
• Legal coverage from TrustLaw
• Opinions from Health Affairs magazine
• Radio reports from Democracy Now

For reports on the We Can End AIDS mobilization that took place during the week of the conference, see:

• The Inquirer’s covereage
• A slideshow from TheBody.com and another from The Washington Blade

The International AIDS Conference 2012 & AIDS Activism

Information about The International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012)

Webcasts of the many conference sessions will be available to watch online (not available until the sessions take place) via the Kaiser Family Foundation’s AIDS 2012 page.

The AIDS 2012 Website has lots of info including:

• The official promotional video
• Conference FAQs
• Bios of the plenary speakers
• Info about youth programming
• Info about the Global Village – for networking and sharing between organizations from all over the world
• How to organize a Conference Hub –  “mini conferences” held during or after the international conference by local organizations, which can be registered as late as September 15, 2012

The International AIDS Society, which organized the conference, has proposed The Washington D.C. Declaration to “turn the tide” against the epidemic, which you can read and sign.

For Science News Coverage from AIDS 2012, see NAM AIDSmap’s AIDS 2012 page, which includes:

• A sign-up for Email Bulletins with daily round-ups of science news from the conference
• Background Reading on major themes of the conference

For Community Events, see AIDS 2012 Reunion, which lists events from film screenings to dance parties, that aren’t officially part of the conference.

Facebook users can check out the conference’s Facebook page.

Twitter users can follow updates at:

• @AIDS2012 – for general updated
• @GVAIDS2012 – for updates about the Global Village
• @YouthAIDS2012 – for updates about Youth

There are many Youth Organizations with web presences about AIDS 2012, including:

• YouthForce
• DC Community Coalition
• HIV Young Leaders Fund
• Youth Rise

Many people have published Opinions & Commentary about AIDS 2012.  Here are a few that may be of interest:

• Countdown AIDS 2012 page – a collection of articles by the Prevention Justice Alliance, about Treatment Access, Social Justice, Queer & Trans Justice, HIV Criminalization and more
• A talk by Dr. Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, at the Brookings Institution
• A blog post by Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with many official U.S. government statements and documents relevant to AIDS 2012
• Statements by the World YWCA, especially about women’s issues
• Brown Bag webinars by the National Latino AIDS Action Network on AIDS 2012

On July 24^th, there will be a huge Activist Mobilization called We Can End AIDS outside the conference.

• Read the platform
• Find out about free transportation to D.C. on the 24th

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AIDS Activist Resources in the AIDS Library

The following books and movies cover the AIDS epidemic from the perspectives of activists and social critics.

BOOKS

• AIDS and Accusations: Haiti and the Geography of Blame, by Paul Farmer
• AIDS and the Policy Struggle in the United States, by Patricia D. Siplon
• AIDS: Cultural Analysis, Cultural Activism, ed. by Douglas Crimp
• AIDS in the Twenty-First Century: Disease and Globalization, by Tony Barnett and Alan Whiteside
• The AIDS Pandemic: Complacency, Injustice and Unfulfilled Expectations, by Lawrence O. Gostin
• Ashamed to Die: Silence, Denial, and the AIDS Epidemic in the South, by Andrew K. Skerrit
• Body Count: Fixing the Blame for the Global AIDS Catastrophe, by Peter Gill
• The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics, by Cathy J. Cohen
• Fighting for our Lives: New York’s AIDS Community and the Politics of Disease, by Susan M. Chambre
• From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization, ed. by Benjamin Shepard and Ronald Hayduk
• Global AIDS Myths and Facts: Tools for Fighting the AIDS Pandemic, by Alexander Irwin, Joyce Millen, and Dorothy Fallows
• Globalizing AIDS, by Cindy Patton
• How to Have Theory in an Epidemic: Cultural Chronicles of AIDS, by Paula A. Treichler
• Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge, by Steven Epstein
• Infections and Inequalities, by Paul Farmer
• Inventing AIDS, by Cindy Patton
• Moving Mountains: The Race to Treat Global AIDS, by Anne-Christine d’Adesky
• Not in My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community, ed. by Gil L. Robertson IV
• Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor, by Paul Farmer
• Policing Public Sex, ed. by Dangerous Bedfellows
• Righteous Dopefiends, by Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg
• The Tragedy of Today’s Gays, by Larry Kramer
• Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men, by Gabriel Rotello
• Stitching a Revolution: The Making of an Activist, by Cleve Jones
• We Make Change: Community Organizers Talk About What They Do – and Why, by Kristin Layng Szakos & Joe Szakos
• When Bodies Remember: Experiences and Politics of AIDS in South Africa, by Didier Fassin
• Will to Live: AIDS Therapies and the Politics of Survival, by João Biehl
• Women, AIDS & Activism, by the ACT UP New York Women and AIDS Book Group
• Women, Families, and HIV/AIDS: A Sociological Perspective on the Epidemic in America, by Carole Campbell

MOVIES

• Pills Profits Protest: Chronicle of the Global AIDS Movement, directed by Anne-Christine D’Adensky, Shanti Avirgan, and Ann T. Rosetti
• Sex in an Epidemic, directed by Jean Carlomusto
• Voices from the Front, directed by Sandra Elgear, Robyn Hutt, and David Meieran [note: In-house Reference copy. This item does not circulate]

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The History of AIDS Activism

There is no one history of AIDS activism.  For some tellings of the history, see

• Drugs Into Bodies! A History of AIDS Treatment Activism, from Body Positive
• The ACT UP Oral History Project (focusing on ACT UP New York), archived by the Harvard University Library
• ACT UP New York’s Capsule History, its Chronology, and other writings at its Documents webpage
• POZ Magazine founder Sean Strub’s Denver Principles Empowerment Index & A Brief History of the Empowerment Movement
• MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s report ACT UP Marks 25 Years of AIDS Activism

For many more personal accounts, see TheBody.com’s collection of HIV/AIDS Activist Profiles & Personal Accounts, and their collection of HIV/AIDS Activist Obituaries.

For further research, ACT UP New York has a bibliography of books and articles on the AIDS activism at their Research Info page.

For more information can on the history of AIDS activism in Philadelphia, see:

• Pascal Emmer’s essay on ACT UP Philly and “queer futurity” – note: not available in full text without database access, contact us for assistance
• The Gay History Wiki – note: as a wiki, the content of this website may not be verified

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AIDS Activism Now

For news about AIDS activism, see TheBody.com’s webpage, HIV/AIDS Activism News.

There are many organizations that do activist work around the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  To learn about their actions, join them, or support their causes, see the contact information at their websites:

• ACT UP New York
• ACT UP Philadelphia
• AIDS Healthcare Foundation
• AIDS Policy Project
• HIV Prevention Justice Alliance
• National AIDS Housing Coalition
• National Association of People With AIDS
• Positive Women’s Network
• The POZ Army
• Treatment Action Group