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CHS launches program to improve the quality of health care among women living with HIV/AIDS in New Jersey

The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to grow among women of color. In 2007, New Jersey’s Department of Health reported that Latinas make up 34 percent of the reported HIV/AIDS diagnoses in Cumberland County, NJ.

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) HIV/AIDS bureau just awarded a grant to the Center for Human Services (CHS) to assist HIV/AIDS positive women of color (in Cumberland County) in gaining access to quality health care. The project, “Latinas Involved in Full Treatment” (LIFT) will target HIV/AIDS positive Latinas and female migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW).

LIFT is a referral network, hosted by CHS, designed to ensure that Latina women living with HIV and AIDS have access to and continue to be actively engaged in quality HIV/AIDS treatment and care. CHS will establish a linguistically and culturally appropriate case management system, provide interpreter services for those who have limited English proficiency, and provide outreach workers who will identify and re-connect women living with HIV/AIDS to services, as well as ensure continuity of care once migrant women leave the Cumberland County area. To bridge gaps in languages and culture LIFT will employ a female staff consisting of interpreters, culturally informed community health workers, and former MSFW women.

Although a secondary goal of the project, LIFT will also encourage HIV/AIDS positive Latinas and MSFW women to develop positive attitudes towards safer sex practices and skills to negotiate and increase control over sexual situations.

CHS collaborates with long time local partners

LIFT is a joint effort by multi-disciplinary health care providers, with key roles provided by:

• Community Health Care Incorporated (CHCI) - a not for-profit, community-based medical and dental care provider with health care centers throughout Cumberland County. In response to referrals from CHS, CHCI will provide basic medical services and HIV/AIDS care.

• Community United for Rehabilitation of the Addicted, Inc. (CURA) - a community based not for-profit organization that focuses on the treatment and rehabilitation of Spanish speaking individuals who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. CURA will provide alcohol and drug counseling services to Latinas referred by CHS.

• Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN) - a national, not-for-profit, organization that empowers clinicians and communities to strengthen clinical care and health care infrastructure for migrants and other mobile poor populations. For LIFT, MCN provides a central home for medical records and continuity of care for mobile underserved patients.

For more information on this project, please contact Louis Marino at lmarino@urc-chs.com, and for additional information on HIV/AIDS visit http://hab.hrsa.gov/.

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