February 2021 Apex Newsletter - Apex Community Care

By admin Newsletter Tuesday, February 16th, 2021

If you haven’t already heard, Apex acquired a new 20,000 sq ft. facility at 16 Hospital Ave (walking distance from Danbury Hospital and the Western Connecticut State University Midtown Campus)! The building will eventually house all of our Danbury services, but will now include medical services. We have already begun renovating, and recently completed our Harm Reduction & Prevention suite on the first floor. Demolition on the medical and behavioral health floors is underway and expected to be complete by mid-2021. Stay tuned for updates!

Our big moves have garnered a bit of attention! Check out this NewsTimes article that talks about our recent application to receive state bonding money to help us complete all renovations, and why we made the decision to expand our services.

Harm Reduction & Prevention Has a New Home!

The Harm Reduction & Prevention Department is officially settled at 16 Hospital Avenue, and we are open for all services, by walk-in or appointment!
Our LGBTQ Drop-In Center is coming together! We have worked hard to make it a safe, welcoming space for individuals to come for prevention services and plan to host many activities and events there as well.
Our SSP (Syringe Services Program) in collaboration with the Waterbury Health Department (WHD) continues to grow rapidly. We had 17 new intakes just in the month of January. The OD2A (Overdose Data to Action) team at WHD is doing an amazing job getting our clients the harm reduction and prevention services that they need.

In an effort to break down barriers for clients and make take home HIV test kits more accessible, we added a simple form on our website. This form gives staff everything they need to send the individual the test AND fill out the paper work needed for them which eliminates any tedious or unnecessary steps.

For questions about HIV/STI testing, our SSP, or other Harm Reduction & Prevention services, feel free to call or text us (475-655-4735) or email: [email protected].

All groups with the exception of Healthy Love & Transfirming Group are now being held in person! Check out our full listing of groups here.

Featured above are two of our newest groups ‘Stitch ‘n Bitch’ (Mondays at 3 pm) and ‘HIV Health & Wellness’ (Tuesdays at 6 pm).

It’s Time to Give!

On Thursday February 25th Apex Community Care is excited to be participating in Fairfield County’s Community Foundation Giving Day! On this day, hundreds of nonprofits and nonprofit supporters in our community will celebrate what we love most—making a difference.

Learn more about Apex Community Care at www.apexcc.org

Here are ways YOU can support Apex on Giving Day:

Make a donation of any size to help us reach our goals
Create your own personal fundraiser for Apex Community Care to share with your friends & family!
Share this email with friends & family to spread the word!

Support Apex Community Care on Giving Day by visiting: https://www.fcgives.org/organizations/apex-community-care
To create your own personal fundraiser for Apex, follow the link above and then click on the “Fundraise” button.

With Your Help, We Can
Empower Individuals & Strengthen Communities!

Welcome to Apex!

We’re so excited to have Roman Barksdale Jr. join us in the Harm Reduction & Prevention Department as our newest Community Health Worker! However, Roman is no stranger to the role as he’s been working in the field for the last 20 years. Here’s what he has to say:

“Starting in the year 2000, I began working for the substance use disorder/mental health facilities in New York such as: Daytop Village, Samaritan Village, Phoenix House, Canarsie Aware, and Carnegie Hill.
I delight in teaching and conversing onto the multiple pathways of recovery as I am known by my catch phrase:
“When you don’t know what to do, always know what you’re not going to do.”
I’m a musician that enjoys’ singing and playing guitar. I study, practice and teach Martial Arts as well.”

We’d also like to introduce another new member of our Harm Reduction & Prevention Department, Andrew Reilly! Andrew, like Roman, will be working as a Community Health Worker. When asked to tell us a little more about himself, he said:

“Hey, everyone! I am a recent college graduate from Keene State College. I majored in Health Science with a focus in Community Health. In my free time I enjoy going thrifting, a full bodied glass of wine, and cats–in no specific order. I am excited to be part of the team here at Apex, and I look forward to all of the amazing opportunities and connections this position will offer me.”