IMPULSE PRESENTS: FASHIONEASTAH
SAFER SEX is always in style! Impulse Group aka “Impulse” put together yet another successful event bringing HIV awareness and safer sex tools to the community right in their own backyard.
Spring is upon us and it couldn’t be more apparent than with Impulse Group’s latest Safer Sex event endeavor “FashionEastah’.
On Thursday, April 19th 2012 the men of Impulse along with Patrick DiLascia, owner and designer of the chic men’s clothing Boutique Par-La, opened his doors to host Impulse Group’s latest mixer. The event was complete with sexy boy Easter Bunnies passing out condoms while guests mixed, mingled & munched on delicious bites throughout the night. The men of Impulse decked out in Spring pastels promoted their safe sex advocacy program “Wrap It Up” as well as engage guests about the state of gay men’s health issues within the community.
More than 200 guest made their way into the event enjoying a relaxed evening with friends and at prime time, guest speaker Albert Ruiz from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, addressed the attentive crowds on the importance of getting tested and listed off several locations that offer free HIV services only minutes away; all the while a Rapid HIV testing van (a staple at all of “Impulse Presents” events) stood parked right out front of the store all night offering free testing to anyone in need.
The venue was not only fully decked out with Easter themes, but also with HIV information & statistics for guest to take in and begin conversations with one another. Impulse Group as an organization has 3 objectives…
1) Protection:
To reduce HIV infections by 25% in Gay men of Los Angeles within five years.
The current rate of infection in LA is about 2000 per year, so 10,000 will be infected in a 5 year period (10,000)
West Hollywood and Hollywood make up 40% of those cases (4,000)
Gay men make up 80% of those cases (3,200)
Men under 40 years old make up 60% of those cases (1,920)
25 percent of that is the number of people they need PREVENT FROM GETTING HIV in the next 4 years.(480)
2) Awareness:
To reduce in HIV positive men who do not know it by 30% in five years. Up to Jan 2011 42,400 people in LA Country were diagnosed with HIV.
The current rate of infection is about 2000 per year, so 10,000 will be infected in a 5 year period. (52,400).
West Hollywood and Hollywood make up 40% of those cases. (20,960)
Gay men make up 80% of those cases. (16,768)
Men under 40 years old make up 60% of those cases. (10,060)
If 1 of every 4 people do not know they are infected, that number is (3,353) 30 percent of that is the number of people we need to get tested in the next 4 years.(1,006)
3) Community: To create community driven events that encourage a healthy atmosphere & lifestyle meanwhile recreating the gay brotherhood, sense of support and community that ceases to exist within the gay scene. that was highly present during the 1980′s.
These statistic are real and Impulse aims to makes these objectives a reality. With this event, Impulse Group is on trend with the successful mixers the group has had within the past year. As they succeeded, the more the group will continue to host events like this. Events like these serve as an opportunity for Impulse to spread their message to the gay demographic outside of the typical bar & nightclub scenes. This allows their messages to be intimately and clearly heard.
For more information visit htttp://impulsegrp.org
Written by Christian Arenas & Kyle Marchand of Impulse Group
