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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Danielle R. Strauss, MPH, Prevention Unit, VIP Community Services, 1910 Arthur Avenue, 9th flr., Bronx, NY 10457, (718) 901-4871 ext. 108, dstrauss01@aol.com, Debbie S Indyk, PhD, MS, Community and Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 19 East 98th Street (Box 1045), New York, NY 10029, and Carlos E. Allende, MHSA, Health Services, VIP Community Services, 1910 Arthur Avenue, 9th flr., Bronx, NY 10457.
VIP Community Services serves African American and Latino substance users from the Bronx. This vulnerable population often presents with multiple issues including HIV, poverty, and homelessness, which makes it difficult for them to prioritize needs and obtain services. Their transient and unstable lifestyle makes it difficult for them to adhere to a structured routine for managing health care and accessing services from multiple agencies with varied schedules. VIP has developed a comprehensive continuum of services that reaches out-of-treatment drug users in the street and walks them into care and support. Services are designed to engage members through outreach, meet them where they are at, offer them a range of possibilities, reduce barriers, and link them to the care they need and desire. We offer HIV counseling/testing, HIV prevention activities, case management, HIV medical care, substance abuse treatment, and additional support services for women.
Integrated prevention and care HIV and substance abuse services improve client outcomes. A continuum, from low to high threshold, effectively reaches this population and helps retain them in services longer, acting as a safety net and allowing for multiple opportunities to remain engaged, drop out and return, receive more intensive care as needs are identified, and develop a readiness for treatment. Programs that address just one area of concern without recognition of the other factors fails to assist clients in making sustained changes in their lives. Recognition of the often conflicting realities of our clients' lives is therefore the first step towards offering effective and quality programming.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants of the session will be able to
Keywords: Out-of-Treatment Drug Users, HIV Interventions
Related Web page: www.vipservices.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: VIP Community Services
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment