The Washington Post - 30.08.2019

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 B3

cation online and by phone and

pick it up from a network of phar-

macies across the city.

While PrEP is designed as a

preventive measure, similar med-

ication can stop a person from

contracting HIV if used consis-

tently for a month after exposure

to the virus.

That method is already com-

mon among first responders and

medical professionals who are ex-

posed to the virus through nee-

dles or blood.

“If a person had sex, didn’t u se a

condom, wasn’t on PrEP, didn’t

know the status of the partner, or

didn’t know if the partner was on

PrEP, so now what? There’s actu-

ally something one can do and to

think of it as kind of a Plan B for

HIV,” Kharfen said.

The District also saw decreases

in other sexually transmitted dis-

eases that reached record highs

last year, according to the report.

[email protected]

ed 13 teenagers diagnosed with

the virus in 2018.

The city’s strategy to stop the

disease’s spread among young

people includes making PrEP

available in schools and employ-

ing “credible messengers” to en-

courage peers to use the drug.

“Sometimes people who most

need the d rugs are least l ikely to be

aware they can have it or be willing

to step forward and ask f or it,” said

Walter Smith of D.C. Appleseed

Center for Law and Justice, a non-

profit involved in the city’s HIV

prevention strategy. “And if we are

talking about really young people,

the last thing they want to do

sometimes is let their friends and

family know they want to take

PrEP.”

The city is also trying to expand

access to HIV prevention medica-

tion. The treatment is already

available free at city clinics, but

officials want to make it possible

for patients to request the medi-

becoming undetectable was 114

days. Sarah Henn, chief health

officer of the HIV-focused health

center Whitman-Walker Health,

said reducing that gap is critical

to curb the spread of the virus.

“With new medications, a lot of

people are undetectable in two-

three weeks, and you shorten the

time someone can infect someone

else from several months to sev-

eral weeks,” Henn said. “If we are

really going to end the HIV epi-

demic, then we need people start-

ed immediately on medication.”

In t he past, a positive diagnosis

would trigger additional testing

before a patient began treatment.

Now, Whitman-Walker will have

patients begin treatment the

same day they test positive.

The latest HIV data suggests

the disease is taking hold in a new

generation.

Residents under 30 accounted

for a third of the new HIV diagno-

ses last year. The city also report-

But District health officials

concede it is unlikely that new

HIV diagnoses will drop signifi-

cantly this year.

“We are not maintaining the

same levels of decreases that we

have seen over the past 10-year

period,” said Michael Kharfen,

who leads sexually transmitted

disease prevention at the D.C. De-

partment of Health.

He said the city faces challeng-

es in reaching the people most at

risk for HIV — black gay and

bisexual men and black hetero-

sexual women — before they have

been exposed to the virus. Those

groups are also less likely than

white gay men to use a daily

prophylaxis, and the city has em-

barked on a public awareness

campaign to change that.

HIV experts said the latest re-

port should galvanize the city to

improve its efforts.

The median time between a

patient’s diagnosis to the virus

load to a point that they cannot
infect sexual partners. And they
are trying to increase the use of a
daily prophylactic pill, commonly
known as PrEP, that reduces the
risk of infection by more than 90
percent.
They have made progress on
both fronts. Two-thirds of people
living with HIV in the District are
virally suppressed, and the District
reported 3,400 people started tak-
ing the daily prophylaxis in 2018.
More than 12,000 residents are
known to have the virus. As of
2016, the Washington metropoli-
tan area — which includes Alex-
andria and Arlington — ranked
16th in HIV infections.
The city is on the brink of
reaching another target s et o ut by
the mayor: To have 90 percent of
District residents with HIV know-
ing their status and receiving
medical treatment.

HIV FROM B1

ter trying to climb into the Tidal

Basin “multiple times” and bang-

ing his head against a brick wall.

In Montgomery, four of his

trespassing cases were dismissed,

and one, involving several

offenses, resulted in a guilty plea

in May this year, court records

show. He was on probation in

that case when he allegedly at-

tack Magill.

While some of the cases were

pending early this year, Arega-

hegne was confined for several

weeks in Maryland’s Springfield

Hospital Center, a psychiatric fa-

cility.

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Da n Morse contributed to this report.

He was gone from the Irving

Street home for 48 hours before

the June 14 incident, his mother

told police. She said that after he

returned, she heard him “mum-

bling” to himself that “Eliyas

must die.” She said he then ran

into the kitchen, intending to

grab a knife, according to the

records.

Two years later, in 2016, Arega-

hegne was admitted for observa-

tion at Washington Hospital Cen-

ter because he showed “symp-

toms of mental illness” and ap-

peared to be “a threat to himself

and others,” according to the

records.

Two months after that, the

records say, he was detained by

police and admitted to the Psychi-

atric Institute of Washington af-

where he was arrested at least

five times in recent years for

alleged trespassing and other mi-

nor crimes.

On June 14, 2014, police were

called to the 600 block of Irving

Street NW — about two blocks

from where Magill was later at-

tacked — for a report of a “suicid-

al man,” according to records

kept by the District’s then-

Department of Mental Health,

now called the Department of

Behavioral Health.

Aregahegne, who was living

with his mother at the time, was

“actively hallucinating” and be-

lieved that the government was

eavesdropping on him, according

to the records, which are not

publicly available but were ob-

tained by The Washington Post.

coordinator at the Washington

Center, helping to place graduate

students in jobs and internships

around the globe.

To earn extra money, she

walked dogs. When she was at-

tacked Tuesday, she was walking

a tiny yellow pit bull mix on

Irving Street, about a mile from

her apartment on 10th Street NW

near Howard University.

Aregahegne’s adulthood has

been marked by periods of home-

lessness and hospitalizations for

mental illness.

Born in Ethiopia, he moved to

the United States with his par-

ents when he was about 5 and

attended the District’s Booker T.

Washington Public Charter

School, according to court docu-

ments in Montgomery County,

was under the bathroom sink.
On the kitchen floor was “an
empty opened ‘A rmitage’ 8 inch
knife package.”
Magill, who grew up in Yuba
City, Calif., north of Sacramento,
was a daughter of now-retired
teachers. As a child, she raised
goats and helped 4-H clubs with
agricultural programs, her father,
Jeffrey Magill, said. Since age 9
she was eager to see the world,
and over the years she traveled to
two dozen countries, he said.
A graduate of the University of
California at D avis, she received a
master’s degree in international
relations from the University of
Westminster in London and
worked in the District as a project

STABBING FROM B1

MARYLAND

Man believed to have

shot at police is killed

Baltimore police say an

officer and a woman were

injured and a suspect killed

when responders shot an armed

man suspected of trying to run

over and shoot officers during a

separate incident the day

before.

News outlets report Police

Commissioner Michael Harrison

confirmed early Thursday that

an unnamed suspect had been

pronounced dead at the hospital

from wounds sustained from

officer gunfire.

Harrison said the suspect is

believed to be the same man

who tried to run over an officer

and fired at another Tuesday

before escaping.

A woman was injured during

the Wednesday shooting, but

Harrison said it wasn’t clear

whether she was hurt by gunfire

or shrapnel. She and the officer

are in good condition.

— Associated Press

VIRGINIA

Man found fatally shot

in Woodbridge

A man was fatally shot early

Thursday in Prince William

County, officials said.

The incident occurred just

after 1 a.m. near Bel Air and

Jeffries roads in Woodbridge.

Police found a man with

gunshot wounds, officials said

in a statement.

He was pronounced dead at

the scene. Authorities identified

the man as Eric Lanier Tate II,

25, of Woodbridge.

Detectives are trying to figure

out a motive and have not

identified a suspect, police said.

— Dana Hedgpeth

Suspect charged in

peeping Tom incident

Authorities have arrested a

50-year-old Virginia man

accused of being a peeping To m

at a Macy’s department store.

Kevin Norton of Springfield,

Va., was charged with indecent

liberties with a minor and

peeping. He turned himself in to

authorities Tuesday, according

to Fairfax County police.

The incident happened Aug.

14 inside a bathroom at the

Macy’s at the Springfield Town

Center.

A teenage boy was in the

bathroom, police said, when he

noticed two men looking at him

in the stall. One of the men,

according to a police statement,

“lowered his pants and began

masturbating in front of the

child.”

The boy “frantically sent text

messages to his mom,” who then

came into the bathroom and the

men left.

Police said one of the men

later reentered the bathroom

and stayed in the store.

It was not clear whether

police had arrested a second

man.

— Dana Hedgpeth

LOCAL DIGEST

Results from Aug. 29

DISTRICT

Mid-Day Lucky Numbers: 7-3-5

Mid-Day DC-4: 1-9-5-1

Mid-Day DC-5: 2-6-6-9-6

Lucky Numbers (Wed.): 0-2-4

Lucky Numbers (Thu.): 8-2-4

DC-4 (Wed.): 5-0-3-1

DC-4 (Thu.): 1-2-5-1

DC-5 (Wed.): 0-5-7-0-7

DC-5 (Thu.): 6-9-2-0-3

MARYLAND

Mid-Day Pick 3: 3-2-6

Mid-Day Pick 4: 8-9-8-2

Night/Pick 3 (Wed.): 0-6-6

Pick 3 (Thu.): 3-6-9

Pick 4 (Wed.): 9-8-6-7

Pick 4 (Thu.): 3-3-1-9

Multi-Match: 1-8-12-20-25-28

Match 5 (Wed.): 1-5-17-34-39 *6

Match 5 (Thu.): 1-5-24-27-34 *29

5 Card Cash: 10S-JC-3C-4C-KH

VIRGINIA

Day/Pick-3: 2-2-7

Pick-4: 6-2-6-0

Cash-5: 4-6-14-15-19

Night/Pick-3 (Wed.): 1-2-3

Pick-3 (Thu.): 3-2-7

Pick-4 (Wed.): 6-5-8-6

Pick-4 (Thu.): 1-3-8-8

Cash-5 (Wed.): 1-17-18-20-22

Cash-5 (Thu.): 3-4-19-28-29

Bank a Million: 1-9-17-19-33-35 *11

MULTI-STATE GAMES

Cash 4 Life:8-9-15-46-48 ¶4

Lucky for Life:11-24-28-33-43 ‡10

Powerball: 9-32-37-41-56 **14

Power Play: 10x

*Bonus Ball **Powerball

¶ Cash Ball ‡Lucky Ball

For late drawings and other results, check

washingtonpost.com/local/lottery

LOTTERIES

BY MARK LIEBERMAN

On a recent Wednesday, Renee
Hines sat at a table in the District’s
Northwest One Library near
Mount Vernon Triangle, ready to
greet people experiencing home-
lessness.
Their challenges are familiar to
Hines. She started abusing alco-
hol and drugs, including cocaine
and heroin, from age 14. She was
arrested a handful of times for
drug possession and theft.
After her most recent arrest, in
1999, a judge sent her to a drug-
treatment p rogram, where she g ot
clean. She stayed that way until
2006, when she broke her leg in a
car accident and became addicted
to pain medications. She was
homeless for more than a year,
sleeping in her car for much of
2012 to 2014.
To day, thanks to substance
abuse counseling and mental
health counseling, Hines is clean
and living in an apartment in
Southeast’s Marshall Heights
neighborhood, where she grew
up.
“I’m 56 years o ld,” Hines said. “I
started getting my life together at
52.”
To her clients, she repeats of-
ten: “If I can do it, so can you.”
Hines is one of three peer out-
reach specialists who fan out
across 11 D.C. libraries each week
to connect the city’s most vulner-
able residents to programs and
services, and to lend a friendly
face and sympathetic ear.
Some homeless visitors to the
library, or outdoor spaces nearby,
regularly seek her counsel and
refer her to their friends.
Others are more reticent or
don’t realize they could use help.
Hines simply greets them until
they open up — however long it
takes.
“I really d on’t g et o n the subject
of what you need [early on],”
Hines said. “I’m just trying to have
a conversation.”
Libraries in the District have
long served homeless residents.
Visiting the Martin Luther King
Jr. Memorial Library downtown
was a routine for so many home-
less residents that its closure for
renovations in 2017 left hundreds
of regular visitors adrift.
In 2014, the D.C. Public Library
system hired Jean Badalamenti a s
assistant manager of health and
human services to help the city’s
25 libraries better serve as a re-
source for the city’s roughly 6,500
homeless residents.

Early last year, she pulled three

“peer specialists,” including

Hines, from the District’s Depart-

ment of Behavioral Health. The

agency since 2004 has assembled

a network of people certified to

apply their experience with

homelessness, substance abuse

and other challenges to help peo-

ple in similar circumstances.

Roughly a year and a half later,

Badalamenti estimates the library

system’s peer outreach specialists

have helped between 10 and 15

homeless residents secure transi-

tional or permanent housing, and

30 more clients have gone to stay

in shelters.

Hines can rattle off her person-

al tally with pride: one in perma-

nent housing, two in rapid re-

housing, two in transitional hous-

ing, three in shelters and three in

drug-treatment programs.

She and her colleagues also

help clients secure or renew their

ID cards, access substance abuse

and mental health services, and

get around with the help of pre-

loaded SmarTrip cards.

“My first day, it was like, wow, I

can give them something to look

forward to,” Hines said.

The District’s homeless popula-

tion has shrunk during each of the

past three years, including a 5.5

percent decline from 2018 to 2019.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) ran in

2015 on a campaign promise of

ending family homelessness in

the District by last year and all

homelessness in the city by 2025.

Her administration closed the

decrepit D.C. General shelter for

homeless families citywide and is

in the process of opening short-

term family shelters in each ward.

However, those campaign targets

remain elusive; according to the

city’s annual homelessness count

in May, 6,521 adults and 815 fami-

lies remain unhoused.

The peer outreach program

aims to serve those groups, but i ts

scope is limited. Northwest One,

for instance, doesn’t have a pri-

vate office for Hines or her col-

leagues, so they meet with home-

less residents out in the open. On

Aug. 21, Hines chatted over an

infant crying, children singing

and patrons chattering.

Funding is tight. The program

this year got $91,000 from the c ity

— enough to pay specialists $570

per week for 30 hours of work.

Badalamenti hopes the D.C.

Council will eventually expand

the program to add another spe-

cialist, and to make Hines and her

team full-time employees.

Badalamenti has seen indica-

tions of the program’s long-term

growth. Libraries’ public safety

employees have begun referring

library visitors to Hines and her

colleagues. Hines has heard from

homeless residents who haven’t

visited the library but who know

who she is. Badalamenti has field-

ed requests from other libraries

for visits from the peer specialists.

On Aug. 21, Hines met with

Leonard, a frequent visitor who

likes sending Hines text m essages

with life updates. He has been

homeless for a year, and he has

recently taken to scouting Craigs-

list and walking the streets look-

ing for available housing. Leon-

ard spoke to a reporter on the

condition that his last name not

be used.

Hines started meeting with

Leonard last year when he saw a

flier about the peer specialists at

the Shaw Library. He got some

help from her, then disappeared

for a few months.

“I thought things were working

out, and then I had a setback,”

Leonard said. Now he visits her

regularly, sometimes just to say

hello.

Hines and Badalamenti offered

Leonard a timeline of obligations

for entering the city’s rapid re-

housing program, including tak-

ing a vulnerability assessment

survey at a D.C. shelter. “He is one

that will keep his appointment,”

Hines said with a laugh.

Leonard said he has been stay-

ing at a shelter in Northwest

Washington and has been keeping

busy with volunteering and week-

end computer classes. “I don’t

want to be sitting around watch-

ing closed-captioned TV,” he said.

Hines reminded him of one of

their early conversations: “Like I

told you at the beginning, it’s a

process.”

[email protected]

Man charged with first-degree murder in woman’s death in NW

D.C. will fall short on goal of slashing HIV cases

THE DISTRICT

A helping hand for homeless people, from one who’s been there

MARK LIEBERMAN/THE WASHINGTON POST

Renee Hines, 56, waits at Northwest One Library to greet clients, including people dealing with homelessness and other challenges. Hines

is clean after struggling with drugs and spending more than a year sleeping in her car. “If I can do it, so can you,” she tells her clients.

Workers at D.C. libraries

help vulnerable residents

find programs, services