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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Anne Rinchiuso, Kathleen Asas, Christie A. Johnson, and Randolph H. Cheung. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT 06520, 203-624-5395, anne.rinchiuso@yale.edu
A large part of the HIV/AIDS community is faced with homelessness, resulting not only from the debilitating effects of their HIV infection, but also from their concomitant struggles with substance abuse and/or mental illness. Being homeless, they will receive treatment on outpatient bases, which often translates into sporadic care for their illness, and, consequently, poor control of their disease. A subgroup of these patients who suffer acute complications from their HIV/AIDS will be referred to nursing homes whose task is to medically stabilize them, with the goal of reintegrating the healthiest of them into the community. Unfortunately, though some patients can be discharged from nursing homes, most of them will lack housing options to reintegrate successfully. Almost all of these individuals are dependent on government assistance. The shortage of affordable housing seen in many areas of the U.S. is especially problematic for HIV/AIDS patients, as most of the housing they can afford places them in neighborhoods where their health is threatened by their environment (e.g., where drug abuse is widespread). To address the shortcomings of the currently available options, we worked with a 40-bed HIV/AIDS nursing home in New Haven, CT to develop staffing plans and service paradigms for a novel assisted living facility. By providing alternative options to the potentially homeless HIV/AIDS community, our goal was to facilitate the maintaining of control of their HIV/AIDS, their substance abuse problems, and/or their mental illnesses. Research methods, results, and model recommendations will be presented, and the status of the initiative updated.
Learning Objectives: After viewing this poster, participants should be able to
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.