TandC Associates, LLC

In the mid-1980′s with the rising tide of the AIDS epidemic, at a little clubhouse program called Prospect House (PH), located in East Orange, NJ, the intake coordinator informed program staff that a new member who wanted to work in the Kitchen Unit was HIV+. The administration of PH then devoted a series of in-service trainings to the latest practices of interacting with HIV/AIDS patients, enhanced by research studies recently published at that time by University Medical and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and facilitated by the current psychiatric consultant at PH.  As a group, the PH staff reached the consensus that this member could indeed work in the Kitchen Unit, provided he wore latex gloves, did not use sharp instruments – i.e., knives, can openers, etc. – and did not wash dishes in soapy water to avoid contact with forks, knives and potentially broken glass.  Furthermore, all members and staff in the Kitchen Unit began using latex gloves in order to remove any potentially discriminating visual cues.  The member was welcomed as a meaningful, productive teammate in the Kitchen Unit, as were all subsequent members who were HIV+, or diagnosed with AIDS.

By the late 1980′s, another New Jersey clubhouse, Harbor House (HH), had undergone the comprehensive “Universal Precautions” in-service training offered by its parent facility, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center (SJHMC).  HH program staff were taught how to handle “spills” with latex gloves and antiviral disinfectants, and all units in addition to the Kitchen Unit – Clerical, Research, Intake, Housing, Maintenance and Thrift Shop – were amply supplied.  Furthermore, HH program staff and clubhouse members undertook a sensitivity training in-service to assure that all members and visitors to the Paterson, NJ clubhouse were welcomed without barriers over and above the standard non-discrimination practices (ethnic, religious, age, sex, level of education, etc.). These trainings at Harbor House were offered under the auspices of SJHMC, which was celebrating its 125th anniversary of service to the Paterson community, having been founded by the mendicant Sisters of the Sick and Poor of St. Elizabeth’s Convent in Convent Station, NJ.  The whole hospital campus underwent these trainings, and as a result Harbor House had the augmented benefit of all the medical staff, including the Department of Psychiatry.  Furthermore, the Paterson Fire Department added to the campus-wide CPR and 1st Aid Training at SJHMC resuscitation masks to prevent cross contamination by either a victim or rescuer.

Clearly, the ethos of welcoming all members is deeply ingrained in the clubhouse community, but these two programs known to TCA – Prospect House and Harbor House – were early examples of welcoming members who were previously diagnosed with HIV+ or AIDS at the beginning stages of the AIDS epidemic in the United States.  Their clubhouse staff began to share this exceptional practice in presentations at annual NJ Rehabilitation Agency conferences, as well as at the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services (IAPRS) conferences nationally.  As the AIDS virus spread throughout the general population, it similarly impacted the clubhouse community.  With solidarity on the part of Administration, Program Staff and Membership, utilizing “Universal Precautions” as part of everyday practices (including the housing and apartment programs), all member applicants — even those who were HIV+ or AIDS patients — came to be welcomed throughout the larger clubhouse community.

In the 1990′s the stigma of a terminal diagnosis of AIDS gave way to the healthcare practices of “Living with AIDS.”  And so it did in the clubhouse community, with supportive medical services through liaison such as PH and HH with their affiliated hospitals (UMDNJ and SJHMC respectively), or through storefronts such as the one Fountain House utilizes, as mentioned in an earlier posting on this website, “Clubhouse and Psychiatry — A Follow Up” (July 21st, 2012).

In a forth-coming post, we at TCA will present the growth of “Double Trouble” supportive services in the clubhouse, another form of membership advocacy.