OUR MISSION
Our name defines our purpose: Let’s Kick ASS—AIDS Survivor Syndrome
We were established in 2013 with the goal of fighting AIDS Survivor Syndrome. Our aim is to empower those living long-term with HIV, helping them flourish through building connections, re-engaging, and mobilizing to advocate for change that focuses on and enhances their quality of life.
We’ve made a difference by bringing attention to the needs of survivors, but there is still more to be accomplished.
OUR VISION
We envision a world where AIDS survivors lived experiences are valued, our resilience is celebrated, and well-being is the highest priority. To be part of a community where we are essential members of the tribe, surrounded by connected friends and families of our choosing, and aging is a time to flourish.
Founded in 2013 by, for, and about HIV long-term survivors, Let’s Kick ASS addresses an unmet need — the present-day psychosocial ramifications of living in the aftermath of the early AIDS pandemic.
We advocate for the needs and issues facing HIV long-term survivors. We collaborate with local and national HIV advocates, providers and researchers.
We are an all-volunteer, grassroots movement united in compassion, committed to action, and insisting on visibility. Ending isolation and envisioning a future we never imagined we’d live in.
Our approach is radically simple. We listen to HIV long-term survivors for their input, experiences, challenges and insights. We believe change happens from the ground up (grassroots) and that the voices of survivors and Older Adults with HIV must be integral to the programs and policies that directly affect our lives. “Nothing about us, without us.”
We are powerful advocates for Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U), meaning People Living with HIV/AIDS on effective treatment can’t pass it on to a partner. #UequalsU
DONATE
Let’s Kick ASS —AIDS Survivor Syndrome is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation granted tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). Our Federal EIN is 46-5082959, and our California corporation number is C3652098. Based in San Francisco, our work is local and national.
Donate click this link or on the image below https://gofund.me/98463e6b
A Short Summary of Some of Our Impact
LKA coined “AIDS Survivor Syndrome” a spectrum of sustained trauma resulting from living through the pandemic. ASS is akin to PTSD but more complex and stems from the fear of a lack of planning for aging. Things like not saving for retirement we weren’t going to have.
We were planning to die young. We are ill-prepared for surviving and aging with AIDS. While aging is a gift, it’s also filled with terror and a long history of living with one foot in the grave and one foot in the land of the living. Participation in society without insufficient financial resources and poorer quality of life. These make ASS unique. It took living with something unnamed that no one was discussing, which made it disturbing. We’ve heard from thousands of survivors who say they feel validated and less alone. The University of Pittsburg researched and validated AIDS Survivor Syndrome. It is empowering and healing knowing what they are going through is a normal response to an extraordinary experience.
Over the past nine years of groundbreaking work, raising awareness about the effects of AIDS Survivor Syndrome and the importance of improving the quality of life for Older Adults with HIV. As the first organization in the world focused on the first generation of people living with HIV.LKA is a pioneer and widely acknowledged as experts in advocacy and education about HIV Long-Term Survivors and Older Adults with HIV.
We’ve made an enormous impact on a shoe-string budget. We’ve spawned LKA chapters in seven cities and helped start support groups for survivors around the country and as far away as Germany and the Netherlands.
• Coined “AIDS Survivor Syndrome” in 2012, we’ve heard from thousands of survivors they are validated by knowing what they’re going through is a normal response to an extraordinary experience. They feel less alone and relieved they are not broken but resilient. AIDS Survivor Syndrome validates their lived experience.
• Held countless workshops and lectures at HRSA, HHS and the CDC. We have a long history and friendship with Harold Philips, Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP). On World AIDS Day 2021, we saw the impacts of our efforts when President Biden released the updated White House National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States 2022–2025.
• The new AIDS strategy “adds a new focus on the needs of the growing population of people with HIV who are aging.”; “expands capacity to provide whole-person care to older adults with HIV and long-term survivors”; and prioritizes “enhancing a focus on the quality of life for people with HIV.” All things that LKA advocated for over the past eight years.
• LKA played a key role in passing California’s HIV & Aging Act, which became law on January 1, 2022. It designates older adults with HIV as a “population of greatest social need,” ensuring older Californians living with HIV have the resources and support to thrive. We spoke at the appropriations committee. The bill passed with unanimous consent.
• We serve on the Expert Advisory Committee of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC). We are now in our fourth year. We are developing an evidence-based toolkit to help healthcare providers understand and care for aging patients living with HIV.
• We have partnered with AIDS United and SAGE USA on the HIV and Aging Policy Action Coalition (HAPAC). Our work is ensuring that the needs of older people living with HIV are addressed through federal, state, and local policy.
• Our HIV Long-Term Survivors Declaration has been read over 15,000 times on our Medium.com blog:
Some of Our Impact
• In 2014, we launched HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day (HLTSAD), held every June 5. It is on the anniversary of June 5, 1981, when the first report of a new mysterious illness killing young gay men. It that would later become known as HIV/AIDS. It has become an international day with events around the globe.
We’ve raised awareness and impacted changes that help our large cohort—estimated to be 15% of the over 12,000 people living with HIV in San Francisco. 71% are Older Adults with HIV. LKA has brought them out of the closet and helped make sure they receive services One survivor commented on our Facebook page, “AIDS Survivor Syndrome fully encapsulates what I went through and continue to live daily. Cheers and thanks!”
INTERVIEW ON NPR’s The Take Away: Tez on Aging with HIV (November 2021)
In the early days of HIV and AIDS, a positive diagnosis was a death sentence. During the helm of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, on average, a patient died within 15 months of diagnosis.
Today, new antiretroviral therapies can make a HIV positive person's viral load undetectable, meaning that someone who is HIV positive cannot pass the infection to others. Advocates use the common term U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable). These medications allow HIV survivors to live long, fulfilling lives, but those who have aged with the virus still struggle with the burden of loss and learning how to live for a future they were previously denied.
In this segment, we talk to Tez Anderson, a long-term survivor of HIV, activist and founder of the first and largest group in the world focused on long-term HIV survivors and older adults aging with HIV, Let's Kick ASS—AIDS Survivor Syndrome.
Change Lives. Give to Let’s Kick ASS. Invest In A Purpose-Driven Response That Includes Long-Term Survivors
It has been forty years since the mysterious virus now known as HIV entered our lives.
AIDS is not over, but with the right level of investment, it can be. We know how to diagnose and treat HIV. We know how to prevent new HIV infections. We know how to save lives.
But scaling up the HIV services that have been shown to work and keep people HIV-free and keep people living with HIV alive needs money, and commitment.
Let’s Kick ASS —AIDS Survivor Syndrome is a purpose-driven nonprofit, 501 (c)(3), empowering HIV Long-Term Survivors to thrive and age well with the virus since 2013.
We exist on the kindness and generosity of the community and our allies. If you are able please make a donation you can click the link below or send a check to:
LET’S KICK ASS—AIDS SURVIVOR SYNDROME
4111 18th St Ste 5
San Francisco, CA 94114
EIN: 46-5082959
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Email
helllo@letskickass.org
