High School students from Mount Olive, Magee, Collins, and Prentiss gathered at Mount Olive Ministries in mid-July to learn about, and make their mark on, the national HIV/AIDS strategy in the United States.
Dr. Lynn Holden is an emergency medicine doctor in Bronx, New York and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center. She received her medical degree from Temple University School Of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years.
Dr. Holden is the co-founder and President of Mentoring in Medicine, Inc. (MIM). MIM is a national non- profit organization dedicated to inspiring and equipping students to become health care professionals through academic enrichment, leadership development, civic engagement and mentoring.
The Community Health Ambassador and Mentoring Program (CHAMP) is a peer-to-peer and mentoring community health education program, which reflects the need for low income high school and college students to be aware of health disparities, current health and science trends, and the potential impact on their lives. The event focused on the development, demonstration and evaluation of a module for high school students to address the epidemic of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) through education and action.
During the event, many students were raising questions relating to HIV/AIDS. Several questions were raised in regard to how one comes in contact and is there a cure for the disease? According to Le’ Asia Smith, she was thankful to receive this information to protect herself against HIV/AIDS. Many of the high school students sat attentively during the workshop absorbing the information to protect their lives.
