LifePoint

We'll be out Friday & Saturday for our regular outreach. Come see us if you need supplies!

Did you know you can drop-in for FREE & CONFIDENTIAL testing at The Q Austin?

We test for HIV, Hep-C, and STIs. Stop by to know your status!

Our new Lifepoint stop for Friday nights: Felix & Vasquez St, in the parking lot of the Montopolis Practice Fields.

We'll be here tonight from 7 pm- 8 pm & will be at our usual stops for the rest of the weekend!

Check out the schedule posted on our page and feel free to send a message if you have any questions or need more support.

APPLY TO BE A HARM REDUCTION VOLUNTEER:
https://hr.viventhealth.org/careers/Careers.aspx?req=2021-ADM-008&type=JOBDESCR

We are currently accepting volunteers for Lifepoint! If you have any questions on getting involved, send us a message for more information.

We're moving on Fridays! (Just a little bit.)

Our Montopolis stop on Fridays at 7 PM is moving from the corner of Felix & Vargas. We'll now be down the road at Felix & Vasquez St in the parking lot of the Montopolis Practice Fields.

As part of Vivent Health, we are proud to celebrate Pride Month this June!

Our work in Harm Reduction acknowledges the intersection of issues that affect people who use drugs. We show support to the LGBTQIA+ community, and we honor and respect the work of individuals and organizations who assert the rights of LBGTQIA+ people.

Check out our sibling, The Q Austin, for more resources & support!

Ever wondered how to use Fentanyl Test Strips properly?

DanceSafe gives three great methods for testing your stuff right here:https://dancesafe.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DS-fentanly-instruction-2020.pdf

As fentanyl infiltrates our supply, testing before you partake is a great way to stay safer!

We have Fentanyl test strips with instructions at our van. Come see us this weekend on Friday & Saturday at our regular stops!

dancesafe.org

NEED NALOXONE?

We always offer free Naloxone, along with training, at our outreach van. Come meet us at one of our stops Friday or Saturday for confidential, anonymous, & judgement-free support.

Want to know your status?
Need to get tested?

This May, our Vivent Health mobile testing team will be with our Lifepoint Exchange van to test for HIV & Hep-C. Testing is always free & confidential.

Join us on:

Saturday, May 15th
La Unica/Galewood Dr from 2:00-3:00 pm
Hancock Center (near CommUnityCare) from 3:15-4:15 pm

or

Friday, May 21st
Ben White Bingo (near Taco Cabana) from 6:00-6:45 pm
Felix & Vargas St from 7:00-8:00 pm

Rain or shine, our Lifepoint Outreach van will be out this weekend at all our regular stops!

Lifepoint (formerly known as AHRC) is still going out for our safe syringe exchanges every Friday & Saturday.

We also have wound care, Narcan/Naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips!

We will be offering limited exchange service tonight. However tomorrow we will be offering full exchange services for those that can’t make it tonight. Stay safe .

If you didn’t get a chance to stop by tonight we will be out tomorrow during the day. 

We will be offering exchange services tomorrow from 12-2pm at our Springdale location. 1023 Springdale rd building 14 suite A.

Due to weather conditions LifePoint outreach will not be available this weekend.

The Austin Harm Reduction Coalition joined forces with Vivent Health to offer more lifepoint services in the ATX community. Link: https://viventhealth.org/prevention-testing/needle-exchange-narcan/

If you didn’t get a chance to stop by tonight we will be out tomorrow during the day. 

Good news to share: Today, the Austin Harm Reduction Coalition joined forces with Vivent Health to offer more lifepoint services in the ATX community. Link: https://viventhealth.org/news/austin-harm-reduction-coalition-joins-vivent-health/.

Vivent Health merged with the AIDS Service of Austin last year to expand HIV services to individuals living with HIV. Visit our website www. viventhealth.org and on click the news & events section.

Austin Harm Reduction Coalition Joins Vivent Health! | Vivent Health Austin Harm Reduction Coalition is an organization that promotes safer injection strategies, educates on opioid overdose prevention and provides sterile supplies to people who inject drugs. It has been an active partner in providing judgement-free care and is dedicated to meeting drug users where th...

Back to our regular scheduled programming for the rest of this month. Here's the schedule for now. We look forward to seeing you!

That's a wrap for today! Next week's schedule is looking a little different, too. We are trying to get to as many folks as we can! Stop by and see us or give us a call for VIP delivery in the Austin area during the available times listed.

Hey folks - we are fitting two days of outreach into one day today for a double doozy harm reduction marathon. Come find us out and about at our regular Saturday spots and then this evening behind Bingo and at Felix & Vargas.

Our beautiful beast of a van died on March 18, 2020, and it has now come time to let it go to the junkyard. We have loved it, painted it, suited it to your needs, stuffed every corner of it with supplies and love and information for the community - hell, we've even swept it once or twice. The learning I (Emily) have done on this van from my elders, my friends, and AHRC participants (often all 3 in one body!) will continue to follow me wherever I go.
I'll never forget loading my bike on board the back of the van at the beginning of a volunteer shift in 2012, weaving my legs through the bike to keep it from sliding into traffic, as we often drove with the back gate open. People in the cars following us would wave and laugh, sometimes taking photos of the weird setup. It was just like when I was a little turd of a kid in my parents' old woody station wagon with the backwards facing rear seat. Both as a kid and in my early 20's, I would wave at my admirers, sticking my tongue out and doling out peace signs and middle fingers.
I also remember when we got kicked out of the Holly stop back in 2014?. The new restaurant on the corner called us names and told us that we weren't welcome there, not understanding that THEY were the guests to the neighborhood - we had been parking there for years. We answered by painting our then-unmarked van with beautiful, loud colors (Thanks to local artist Sloke), showing that yes, we'll mosey, but we won't go into hiding.
When I first started driving the van in 2018, I needed long-time employee Robert to go with me and give me a pep-talk on the overpass on the way to the Ben White camps. It was a good day when I could get it to go over 50mph. When our turn signals weren't working, the volunteers would dangle out the passenger side door to do their best physical representation of whatever a turn signal looked like to them.
It was so low to the ground that it would get stuck on even the slightest incline - I could only get gas at certain gas stations because of this. I was always learning the hard way which driveways were off limits and swearing the volunteers to secrecy when I got it stuck, two or somehow three corners of the van’s body scraping on concrete. It was so low it would teeter on top of a speed bump if you were going slow enough. If it were a living being, it would be a dachshund, but not like a healthy one - maybe more like an old, dusty crocodile.
The conversations we would have on that van changed me - in the cold, the heat, the darkness with our lantern hanging over the works bin. I remember fishing through the condom bin to find every last pineapple flavored condom we had. I remember gloving up and glopping ichthammol into ziplock baggies for people to tend to their abscesses. I remember fishing through the cupboards and sometimes finding the last of a particular size a participant wanted tucked away. The van was magical when it came to providing.
When the van finally took it's last van-breath at the beginning of the pandemic, so many of our participants offered their money, advice, car fixing friends, stories, even their own vehicles. We can't thank you all enough for seeing the value in what we do. Showing up to the van with kind words and a smile is the fuel that keeps us going.
Because the harm reduction community is strong and resilient, we will have brighter and more colorful vans; maybe ones with AC and reliable batteries - one day a whole fleet of them. Whether what we do is embraced or rejected, nothing will keep us from giving our community the things they need to take care of themselves and each other.
The pandemic prevents us from having a proper memorial service. General bodily safety and arson laws prevent us from giving it a Norse funeral. So please feel free to post your drawings, photos, or stories of our (your!) van and what it meant to you. Thanks for being the greatest community. See y'all out there on Fridays and Saturdays with a less flashy set up (for now).

Want that warm fuzzy feeling? Consider grabbing something from our wishlist!

All of these items go directly to our participants. With COVID-related disruptions to work and housing, we're seeing more folks in need of basics like good socks, snacks, and hygiene supplies. We're also running low on wound care supplies, and always need more safer drug use items. Every bit helps! Thank you to our incredible supporters!

https://smile.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/161CXD0Q9L2QG/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1?_encoding=UTF8&type=wishlist

Check out my list on Amazon

We offer free repro kits on the van! Come see us on Fridays or Saturdays to get yours!

Having trouble finding our Saturday La Unica spot from 2-3pm? You're not alone. It's right by Galewood Gardens apartment on Galewood Dr. close to Colony Creek Drive. If you're having trouble finding us, message our facebook so we can help you out. Spread the word to your buds in that area! We want everyone to be able to find us and get what they need. (Our van is unmarked, unfortunately no flame decals)