Out in the Mountains OITM Roundup: State, National and World News Briefs compiled by Kip M. Roberson HIVIAIDS clinic begins services in Brattleboro BRATTLEBORO -- Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) has hired a nurse practitioner to coordinate care at a new I-IIV/AIDS clinic. Mary Zabriskie, MSN, RNC, GNP began work in mid—September with an intensive orientation at the University of Vermont (UVM) Infectious Disease Department. She began coordinating services to Brattleboro area HIV/AIDS patients in October. The purpose of the clinic is to provide community based health care for people with HIV/AIDS and to improve and update local primary care providers’ knowledge about HIV infection and treatment. The clinic is made possible by a federal grant to UVM to evaluate a satellite clinic model of delivering top quality AIDS care in rural areas. The grant covers the cost of the nurse practitioners’ salary and benefits. Zabriskie offers direct services, infonnation and case management for HIV/AIDS patients 20 hours per week. Infectious disease specialists from Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington and Hitchcock Clinic in Hanover provide specialty physician care at clinic sessions two Thursdays each month. These physicians consult with Zabriskie and local physicians, who together manage the ongoing care of most patients. The clinic is the result of a year long grassroots planning effort which began when Dr. Chris Grace of UVM approached Susan Bell, Executive Director of the Brattleboro Area AIDS Project, about the need for a clinic in Southeastern Vermont. The AIDS Project worked with a consortium of 20 local agencies -- the Greater Brattleboro HIV/AIDS Partnership. The BMH Board of Directors unanimously voted in April 1995 to support the establishment of the clinic on a two year trial basis. When the grant is over the program will be evaluated with other community based programs for continuation by the Hospital's directors. For information about the clinic's hours and services, call (802)257-8221. (BAAP Volunteer News) G/L high school opens in Canada TORONTO -- Toronto's new Triangle Program is the country's first public high school for gay and lesbian students. Special instruction will be offered in gay and lesbian history, literature, and experience. The Toronto Board of Education said it created the program because too many gay and lesbian teens quit high school in order to escape homophobia and heterosexism. (Prism Newsletter) Clinton endorses gay-rights bill against job bias WASHINGTON, DC -- President Clinton, who ran into political trouble over his policy on homosexuals in the military, has decided to endorse legislation that would bar employers from discriminating against gay employees and job applicants. The bill, introduced by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) and Sen. James Jeffords (R., Vt.), has little chance of passing the Republican Congress. But it may help the president's relations with gay groups, which were unhappy with the administration's decision not to take sides in a major gay-rights case before the Supreme Court. Yet because the bill is unlikely to move out of committee, Clinton may be insulated from political fallout from the general population. His decision to try to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military during his first days in office got his administration off to a shaky start and left the public with the impression of a very liberal presidency. He has been struggling ever since to shed that image and find his way back to the political center. In a letter to Sen. Kennedy, Clinton said that in 41 states, employers can legally fire workers solely because they're gay. "Individuals should not be denied a job on the basis of something that has no psinaschool h the air or Main Street, PO.“ hands, kissing, sneezing, wrest¥ingo_ dancing. 1 V A ; According to the Surgeon General," your best pro’ ction against AIDS; ' barring abstinence, is use ofa condom. Wbout AID c_: Hotline. For the fa" Vermont A, Health, Division of E l . Burlington, Vermont 0 Health Resources AIDS HOTLINES: Vermont 800-882-2437 New Hampshire 800-752-2437 New York State 800-541-2437 Massachusetts 617-522-4090 Maine 800-851-2437 National 800-342-2437 Canadian 613-563-2437 AIDS Community Awareness Project (ACAP) PO Box 608 St. Johnsbury, VT 05819 (802) 748-1 149 AIDS Community Resource Network (ACoRN) PO Box 2057 Lebanon, NH 03766 (603) 448-2220 Bennington Area AIDS Project PO Box 1066 - Bennington, VT 05201 (802) 442-4481 or 1-800-845-2437 Brattleboro AIDS Project PO Box 1486 Brattleboro, VT 05302 (802) 254-4444 (Helpline) (802) 254-8263 (Office) Franklin-Grand Isle AIDS Task Force P. O. Box 241, St. Albans, VT 05478 (800) 524-7742 - (802) 638-7834 Gay/Lesbian Alcoholics Anonymous GLAA, P.O. Box 5653 Burlington, VT 05402 (802) 658-4221 , Lesbian Cancer Support Group (802) 660-8386 North Star (Holistic Health Care) RR2 Box 3255 Morrisville, VT 05661 (802)888-2858 Vermont AIDS Council PO Box 275 Montpelier VT 05601 (802) 229-2557 Vermont C.A.R.E.S. (Committee for AIDS Resources, Education, and Services) PO Box 5248 - 37 Elmwood Ave., Bur- lington, VT 05401 (802) 863-2437 (Burlington) l-800-649-2437 (VT) Vermont Department of Health 1-800-882-2437 (AIDS Hotline) or (802) 863-7245 (AIDS Program office) VT PWA Coalition PO Box 1055 Brattleboro, VT 05302 1-800-698-8792 or (802) 222-5123 Vermont Women's Health Center 336 North Avenue Burlington, VT 05401 (802) 863-1386