HISstory HERstory THEIRstory OURstory: Storytelling as Resilience is a social marketing HIV awareness, anti-stigma and wellness campaign with the objective to capture transformative stories told by Indigenous People living with HIV and community members and health care providers. The purpose of OURstory is two-fold: 1) Reduce social and health professional stigma, and bring light to internalized shame that negatively affects a person’s self-esteem and self-efficacy, which is a cause for health care avoidance, and 2) promote community wellness, through stories of shared struggles that give hope to cope, survive and thrive. Our overarching goal is to share powerful stories to save lives, inspire and to support changes in human interactions to transform social and institutional structures around efforts to eliminate stigma and discrimination associated with people living with HIV/AIDS and at risk for HIV, STIs and Viral Hepatitis.
Project Partners: Indian Health Services, Kua`aina Associates, Inc., and Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board
HISstory, HERstory, THEIRstory, OURstory was made possible with the support from the Indian Health Services, Minority HIV/AIDS Fund and the U.S, Department of Health and Human Services
We have created an interactive timeline that explores the history of the HIV epidemic through the lens of Native communities.
VoiceThread is an interactive cloud application that will allow participants to expand on the rich history of OURstory by inserting their comments through text or audio recording onto a slide. To interact with the slides, users must set up a VoiceThread account.
Check out our timeline and add your story by visiting the link below!
In HISstory, Brad shares that he can “show you what a survivor looks like '' as someone with HIV and cancer that is in remission after two chemotherapy treatments. In the opening of HISstory, Brad asks a powerful question in poetic form: “what if I told you I win when I open my eyes every morning? Cancer and HIV, you will not triumph over me, because I am possible!” Watch his video to hear him discuss dialogue and talk story—a Hawaiian term that means to converse, orally share experiences, and exchange stories—which he promotes as a means of HIV education and better understanding the virus.
Born and raised in Mō`ili`ili, O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Brad Lum is an HIV long-term survivor who is a community leader for the Native Hawaiian and Two-Spirit/LGBTQ+ communities. Brad is a Kumu Hula, a dedicated master teacher in the art of hula, and a teacher in the Hawai’i Department of Education system for the past 23 years.
In HERstory, Dr. Calderon’s shares about her relationship with one of her patients who she worked with over a year during some difficult medical challenges and up to his final days in hospice. She shares how that experience made her push a lot harder to make things better for all her patients.
Dr. Sophina Calderon is Diné (Navajo) from Tuba City, Arizona and currently works in multiple clinical settings at Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation (TCRHCC) on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. She is the Chief of Staff and is the co-chair for the Medical Staff Credentialing Subcommittee. She is the HIV officer for TCRHCC providing subspecialized HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention for adults and adolescents on the Western Navajo Nation.
Lisa shared in HERstory that she’s proud to be a mother because she thought that HIV would not allow her that privilege. Prior to pregnancy, Lisa was resistant to start HIV treatment and notes that “if I got pregnant, I’d have to get on the [HIV] medication, if not for myself, but for my child’s sake. So, this child literally saved my life, because I was too stubborn [to start] the HIV medicine until there was a reason.” Watch Lisa’s video to hear her discuss her love for exercise and gymnastics, her HIV diagnosis, and her resilient spirit.
A member of the Muscogee Nation and of Creek, Seminole, Cherokee, and Irish descent, Lisa Tiger received an HIV diagnosis in the early 1980s and has served as an HIV/AIDS educator ever since. She’s raised four children, lives with Parkinson’s disease, and is a fierce advocate for crime victims and the HIV and AIDS community.
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