The CNP Podcast · Counter Narrative Project

Episode #3 - Access To Care (National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2023 #NBHAAD)

·54 min·3 clips

Kenyon Farrow ties HIV access to a Cleveland clinic, PrEP prior authorization, and two days of pharmacy calls.

This CNP special was released for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2023. It grew out of participants in CNP's Narrative Justice Leadership Lab and brings together Thomas Epps, Cecilia Dennis, Ryan Canty, Anthony Carter, Henry Filyaw, and Kenyon Farrow around access to care. Thomas opens the conversation by asking the group to reflect on how they have handled their own health care, and one speaker answers with an early memory of pediatric visits where the focus stayed on weight and on the experience of being an overweight child and adult before adulthood shifted the burden of care onto personal scheduling and follow-through. The panel stays grounded and useful. The speakers talk about routine appointments, showing up with some general knowledge about what is happening in their bodies, and taking the lead when something new appears, so the role of patient starts to look active rather than passive. Community fills the gaps. Henry describes going through a long follower list, sending direct messages about monkeypox appointments, and trying to help people get seen quickly, sometimes by reaching strangers who had already been talking openly online about their own need for care. The response is mixed. Some people are ready to take the appointment, some insist they are not sexually active, and the conversation holds that tension without losing its practical focus. Work makes everything harder. Henry was bartending and working three jobs, so the available nine-to-five weekday slots were difficult to use, and that detail keeps the conversation tied to the ordinary logistics that often decide whether care is reachable at all. The group keeps naming that reality. What looks like a simple booking problem becomes a question of timing, access, and persistence, and the episode gives those pressures enough room to feel real. The ending turns outward. The speakers return to the idea that people are drivers and managers of their own health, and that medical providers work best when they are partners rather than distant authorities. The close is grateful. The special ends by thanking listeners, naming the production team, and inviting support for CNP's nonprofit work, so the conversation lands as both testimony and a request for continued community backing.

As heard by us

A steady conversation about access to care, health management, and mutual support.

This CNP special keeps its focus on National Black HIV AIDS Awareness Day 2023 and treats access to care as an everyday, practical concern. It moves from childhood visits to adult responsibility, with attention to scheduling, symptoms, and the strain of fitting treatment around…

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Why you'd press play

You want a Black-led care conversation that stays practical, candid, and human, centered on access to care.

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