Maricela Berumen
Social Work Specialist, Partnership Project
OHSU

In twenty years, the challenges of living with HIV have eased. Medical treatments, stigma and conversations about the disease are vastly different. However, there is still work to be done. In this talk, Maricela Berumen will address her own lived-experiences and professional learnings:

• How to communicate sexual health with cultural sensitivity.
• Experiences navigating a medical system when English is not the language spoken at home.
• How to empower women to advocate for their reproductive rights while living with HIV.
• Advising newly-diagnosed people in the complexities of the care system.

Maricela Berumen is mother of five and grandmother of five. She was born in Mexico and raised in the U.S. since the age of two. Maricela tested positive for HIV in 2003. She worked at Cascade AIDS Project for 17 years as an HIV tester and counselor, as well as an MAI Latino Services Navigator. She has been an HIV advocate for the past 21 years and frequently speaks to the public. She is currently a social worker specialist with Partnership Project at OHSU, a consortium of 13 public and private medical and social services agencies in the Portland metro area that focuses on ensuring people living with HIV have access to affirming, competent and high quality health care.

Because of her lived-experience, Maricela believes that it is vitally important to educate the community around prevention methods and measures for a disease that is preventable.