Erin Benson

Overall, this was wonderfully organized and quite impressive. I could go on and on about the positive aspects of the day from how well organized it was to the breadth of services. But here is some of my critical feedback. My 2nd client received a positive Hep C diagnosis. It would have been great if there was a person in a green shirt right by the HIV/Hep C testing to counsel people after they were informed. I couldn't get him to get HIV testing afterward. It would be great to just offer both at once with one blood draw.
I know that getting identification is tricky, but wonder if a whole room could be devoted to the various id line. For example, all people with no id whatsoever just go to conference room 702 where there are trained people to actually start the process of helping them instead of just referring them forward once again. Den Um, CO Coalition, etc can all send staff to do it. Or volunteers like myself go to another intense training to help with id's. I would welcome the opportunity to actually get the ball rolling with these folks and certainly there were the volunteers present to make it happen, just not the right space/resources. I had 2 clients who just got a form about going to the open hours at another nonprofit after waiting in line 30 minutes. Obviously walking out with an out-of-state birth certificate is not going to happen, but if they got the card of a specific person who was going to walk them through the process that would even go a long way. The impersonal nature of another flyer with more information about the next step makes the likelihood of them following through rather low. But if something was started, then there would be more motivation for them to follow-through.