This past year saw Fenway Health and The Fenway Institute taking bold steps towards creating a better tomorrow for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), individuals living with HIV/AIDS, our neighbors and the larger community.  This annual report outlines the hard work and accomplishments of our staff, volunteers and supporters between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011.

The discovery that pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, can dramatically reduce HIV infections in high-risk HIV-negative people is certainly one of the most important of those accomplishments.  The Fenway Institute was one of two U.S. sites involved in the iPrex trial which demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach, giving us the first good news in the battle to curb the HIV epidemic in quite some time. 

A few months later, faculty from The Fenway Institute were instrumental in crafting the Institute of Medicine’s landmark report The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding.  This report will guide the National Institutes of Health as they design and fund research projects aimed at documenting and addressing LGBT health disparities and will also provide guidance and recommendations for other federal agencies and the United States Congress.

Fenway Health greatly increased our capacity to serve teens and young adults when we welcomed the Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Center into our family.  The Borum provides safe, non-judgmental care for young people ages 12–29 who may not feel comfortable going anywhere else.

Many of the Borum’s patients and clients are LGBT or questioning, homeless, HIV-positive, uninsured, or gang-involved.  The Borum works with each one of them to make sure they have access to the care and services they need and deserve.

The Borum joined the Ansin Building and Fenway: South End as our third clinical location.  We went back to our roots a few months later when we reopened our space at 16 Haviland Street, one of Fenway’s earliest homes, as a fourth location we dubbed Fenway: Sixteen.  The space now houses services and programs for gay and bisexual men and transgender people, including counseling, HIV testing, groups, and more.  Fenway’s helplines for LGBT adults and young people also operate out of that refurbished space.

The addition of new locations for care and services and the hiring of new providers in all of our practices saw Fenway caring for more patients than ever before.  18,000 patients made more than 100,000 visits to Fenway in fiscal year 2011.  We continued to be the largest outpatient HIV/AIDS medical provider in New England, caring for nearly 1,700 HIV-positive people and administering 3,000 HIV antibody tests.  Our Women’s Health program continued to grow, with women and girls now accounting for 40 percent of Fenway patients.   650 transgender people received care and services at Fenway.