Detroit Support Group Offers Employment Assistance to HIV-Positive Individuals
The Detroit News today profiles Power of Work, a new not-for-profit organization that supports HIV-positive individuals in the Detroit area and helps them reenter the work force. Dr. Oliver Johnson, director of Psychiatric Support at Canfield Mental Health Services, and Goodwill Industries vocational support coordinator Karen Garcia founded the group to help people with HIV find or sustain employment. With 25 members, POW twice a week brings in speakers who give talks on disability and describe what employers can and cannot ask about an employee's HIV status. One of the biggest challenges facing the group is getting employers to hire individuals with HIV. Karen Harkness of Goodwill explained, "We must ... find employers who will give the person time during the day to take the medicines they need to have" (Glover, Detroit News, 9/26).
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