SCREENING IN THE BERNARD OSHER FOUNDATION AUDITORIUM
Free World AIDS Day screening (registration recommended) followed by panel discussion.
“In ‘5B,’ the human spirit is bigger than hate and Hallmark alike”
93 minutes. Rated PG-13. Directed by Dan Krauss and Paul Haggis.
Note: This screening will be followed by a panel discussion. Information on the panelists is listed at the bottom of this page. PMA Films is grateful to the Frannie Peabody Center for making this event free and open to the public.
5B is the inspirational story of everyday heroes who took extraordinary action to comfort, protect and care for the patients of the first HIV/AIDS ward unit in the United States at San Francisco General Hospital. 5B is stirringly told through first-person testimony of the nurses and caregivers who built Ward 5B in 1983, their patients, loved ones, and staff who volunteered to create care practices based in humanity and holistic well-being during a time of great uncertainty. The result is an uplifting yet candid and bittersweet monument to a pivotal moment in American history and a celebration of quiet heroes’ worthy of renewed recognition.
Frannie Peabody Center (FPC) is Maine's largest community-based HIV/AIDS service organization, providing integrated care for those living with, at risk, and affected by HIV/AIDS in Maine. FPC addresses the impact of HIV/AIDS through case management, support services, behavioral health counseling, prevention, education, and confidential HIV testing throughout the state. FPC has been providing HIV/AIDS services to the community since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, and over the past 36 years, FPC has grown and adapted to provide direct client assistance and prevention services to people at risk. We are excited to partner with PMA to offer free tickets in honor of World AIDS Day.
Kimberly Meehan-Brown began working as a Community Health Promotion Specialist at the City of Portland’s Public Health Clinic in 2004 and in 2008 began work as a Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) for the Maine Center of Disease Control and Prevention. DIS are trained and experienced in the causes and spread of STDs, skilled in taking sexual histories, identifying, and locating people who may have been exposed to an STD, and knowing where to refer people for treatment and evaluation. Kimberly appreciates through her work as a DIS and her time working at the clinic that the success of DIS work is based on building trusting relationships with patients, health care providers, and community stakeholders.
Tiffany Townsend, NP, AAHIVS: Tiffany is a nurse practitioner who treats hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, and substance use disorder, in addition to providing PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post exposure prophylaxis) to those at risk of acquiring HIV. She is certified through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, and earned her HIV Specialist certification through the American Academy of HIV Medicine. She is very active in educating other medical professionals about HIV and viral hepatitis and is a member of the Medical Advisory Committee for the New England Division of the American Liver Foundation.
Mark Register currently lives in Ogunquit, Maine, and works for J&J in oncology, however, worked in HIV for J&J for 13 years, and for GSK in HIV for 10 years. In 1993, he worked in the lab at Fenway Community Health Center, at that time, an HIV/AIDS clinic in Boston. This was a time before protease inhibitors and the start of Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy in 1996, so he saw a lot in the early days. He also served on the board of directors at FPC for 7 years.