An estimated 16,000 HIV and AIDS patients in Florida could lose their current access to medication and health care services under sweeping cuts to state programs. The Florida Department of Health announced changes to its AIDS Drug Assistance Program, lowering income-based eligibility thresholds and ending coverage of some retroviral medications. The Health Department says the changes are needed due to budget shortfalls. The Jan. 8 announcement, which blindsided patients and health care providers, takes effect March 1. This comes at the same time as new federal laws limiting Medicaid eligibility and eliminating Affordable Care Act subsidies stand to put health care out of reach for millions around the country — including those with HIV.
Guests:
- Dr. Mobeen Rathore, founding director of the University of Florida Center for HIV/AIDS Research, Education and Service
- Justin Bell, advocate, CEO and founder of Friends of The Quilt; chair of the Northeast Florida World AIDS Day Committee
- Clintess Benson, AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Migration and memory
Themes of home, belonging and migration emerge in a timely new exhibit in St. Augustine. We talk to the artist behind the exhibition — Roots, Return and the Weight of Memory — at Flagler College’s Crisp-Ellert Art Museum. Artist Kendra Frorup’s mixed media pieces draw on her Afro-Caribbean roots and incorporate prints, metal and concrete castings, even coconuts and other found items. We ask her about teaching, finding inspiration and her “ongoing exploration of Caribbean material culture and diasporic identity.”
Guest: Kendra Frorup, artist and associate professor of art and design at the University of Tampa
Black History Market
Local celebrations of Black history continue this weekend with the city's first-ever LaVilla Black History Market. The event, held at Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park at 120 N. Lee Street, is a partnership between the Ritz Theatre and Museum, The Florida Fish Pepper Co. and the Vibrant Places Collective, which manages programming at the new city park. The market gets rolling at 2 p.m. Saturday and includes multiple vendors, a fashion show, food trucks and interviews with local historians, authors and civil rights activists including Dr. Rodney Hurst Sr. and Carol Alexander. The event is free and open to the public.
Guests:
- Carla Mechele, curator, Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park
- Trey Ford, curator, LaVilla Black History Market
- Toni R. Settles, vendor and founder of Well Read Child
Topics and guests subject to change.