Bridgette Picou is a nurse with several years of HIV and infectious disease experience and an avid blogger with The Well Project. She also writes a guest column with Positively Aware Magazine called "Being Bridgette." In addition to her LVN license, Bridgette has been certified as an AIDS Care Nurse (ACLPN) and received the 2022 Patrick Kenny Certified Nurse of the year award. Serving as the President of the Greater Palm Springs Chapter of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC), it's important to her to not only continue to build relationships between providers and patients but also partner with other members of the HIV medical community for education and advances. She finds that in advocating for others she advocates for herself and affirms her own journey. You can also find her on Twitter.
In this podcast we discuss Bridgette's journey and advocacy to thrive with HIV. We talk about the need to better understand the lives of women living with HIV--in particular Black women-- whose voices are often missing from research and media. Bridgette explains the importance of seeing HIV as a LIFE (vs. a disease) process and encourages us all to educate ourselves and learn more about HIV (see The Well Project for up to date info). She recommends that we all get tested to know our HIV status, and perhaps become humbled to the experiences of stigma in the process.
Episode hosted by Dr. Carmen Logie. Supported by funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada Research Chairs program. Original music and podcast produced by Jupiter Productions, who have various production services available to support your podcast needs.