Harm-reduction site opens on W. 37th St.
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
New Yorkers facing homelessness,
using drugs or suffering
from H.I.V./AIDS have a new
place to turn to for medical care.
The social-services nonprofi t Housing
Works opened the Ginny Shubert
Center for Harm Reduction on W. 37th
St. on July 17. The center offers clients
a combination of primary care and
harm reduction.
“We all need comprehensive primary
care, but New Yorkers who are
most at risk of contracting H.I.V./
AIDS, including those struggling with
substance abuse and addiction, need a
safe place to seek harm-reduction programs
and substance-abuse treatment
without fear of legal repercussions,”
said Assemblymember Richard Gottfried,
chairperson of the Assembly
Health Committee, who attended a
ribbon-cutting ceremony last week at
the nonprofi t.
Although the nonprofi t held a ribbon
cutting for the center’s opening,
the building is actually home to one
of the city’s oldest needle-exchange
programs. In 1995, an organization
called Positive Health Project began
providing harm-reduction services
there, along with a needle-exchange
program, including overdose prevention
health education and care coordination,
and eventually became a part
of Housing Works in August 2012.
“Since 2012, the program has been
evolving into becoming a lot more
comprehensive and a lot more mindful
of the drug user’s needs and services
needed for the population,” said
From right, from second from right, Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, state Senator Brad Hoylman, a
guest, Ginny Shubert, C.E.O. Charles King (in background) and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, deputy commissioner
for the city’s Division of Disease Control, attended the ribbon-cutting and dedication of the Ginny
Shubert Center for Harm Reduction on July 17.
Max Sepulveda, managing director
for harm reduction at Housing Works.
Since Housing Works became the
managing agent for PHP, the program
has evolved from just being a harmreduction
syringe exchange program,
and now offers health services, psychiatric
services, hepatitis C treatment, a
methamphetamine program, and 15
support groups, along with case management
and care coordination for
H.I.V.-positive individuals.
The center is currently staffed with
PHOTO BY GARY GERSHOFF/GETTY IMAGES FOR HOUSING WORKS
one primary-care provider, a psychiatric
provider, a nurse practitioner and
a number of supportive staff to deal
with the fl ow of 30 to 40 visitors a
day. Part of the center’s care coordination
involves addressing each visitor’s
unique needs and appropriately referring
them to culturally sensitive providers,
if need be.
Sensitivity is an important aspect
of care at the center, since some clients
who have tried obtaining medical
services at more mainstream medical
facilities failed to stick with services
because of stigma and a lack of sensitivity
from providers.
The center wants to be able to provide
some help for everyone.
“Some individuals come with very
basic needs — they just need one specifi
c service and then they go. Then
we have individuals who are entirely
and absolutely disenfranchised,” said
Sepulveda, who added that the center
works with individuals without health
insurance.
Takin’ it to the (car-free) street: Broadway gets mural
BY GABE HERMAN
Talk about street art!
A new mural that stretches
along Broadway for a block
in Midtown is part of the annual Urban
Garden program by the Garment
District Alliance, which cordons off a
street to cars to create more pedestrian
oriented space.
The closed-off block, Broadway between
W. 37th and 38th Sts., features
a 180-foot-long mural — on the street.
Called “Nymph Pond,” it’s by artist
Carla Torres and debuted on July 11.
The artwork was inspired by a small
pond in the Galapagos Islands where
the artist used to visit, according to
the Garment District Alliance, which
is a business improvement district, or
BID. Torres is originally from Quito,
Ecuador, and moved to New York City
in 2006 to pursue a career as an artist
and illustrator.
The block is also part of the BID’s
year-round Art on the Plaza program,
Strolling in an “urban garden” of sorts on Broadway, without cars.
which has run since 2010, along with
the Department of Transportation’s
Seasonal Streets Program, which turns
streets into public plazas.
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
The closed-off block includes stretches
of green turf, cafe chairs and tables,
birch trees, planters and a bike lane that
runs alongside the mural. There will
also be free lemonade and live music
on Wednesday afternoons. The Urban
Garden will run through Aug. 31.
This is one of several attempts in the
city to transform streets temporarily
into public spaces. The fi rst three Saturdays
in August will see the return of
D.O.T.’s Summer Streets program; on
Aug. 3, 10 and 17, between 7 a.m. and
1 p.m., seven miles of streets will be
car-free from the Brooklyn Bridge to
Central Park, including Park Ave. and
connecting streets.
Free activities on the closed-off
Summer Streets will include fi tness
programs, play areas for kids and food
stands. Last year the program drew
almost 300,000 people, according to
D.O.T. It’s modeled after similar events
that occur worldwide, including in Paris,
Bogota and London.
Earlier this year, the city also held its
annual Car-Free Day on April 27, during
which 30 blocks of Broadway were
closed to traffi c between Times Square
and Union Square.
Schneps Media CNW July 25, 2019 3