Background

In partnership with Priority Health Care (PHC), IWES was selected as one of 12 sites across the country to participate in a national study funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) entitled Black Women First - Improving Care and Treatment Coordination for Black Women Living with HIV. A research team at Boston University and the University of Massachusetts Lowell will evaluate the strategies used at each site to improve health outcomes and incorporate lessons learned into national policies.

Located in the Westbank area of New Orleans, Priority Health Care is a Federally Qualified Health Center dedicated to providing holistic health care to underserved communities to aid them in living healthy lives. PHC has clinics in Marrero and Gretna and serves eight metropolitan parishes. In addition to offering high quality HIV care and treatment services, PHC also provides outreach and prevention, primary care, behavioral health, case management, housing, pediatrics, pharmacy, substance use and on-site laboratory services.

Black Women First - Care and Treatment Services (CATS) NOLA

Through our local HRSA initiative, Black Women First - Care and Treatment Services (CATS) NOLA, we’re aiming to understand how using several strategies at the same time to change clinic culture and increase patient support and access to services will impact the health and wellbeing of cis- and transgender Black women living with HIV.

Interventions will focus on:

1. stigma reduction

2. enhancing patient navigation

3. training medical providers and clinic staff on intimate partner violence (IPV), gender-affirming care, and trauma-informed approaches to care

Recruitment will prioritize Black women who are knowledgeable of their HIV status but have never entered into care, have fallen out of care, or are at high risk of falling out of care, including those with multiple chronic diseases. Activities will be coordinated and comprehensive, and they will be delivered simultaneously at PHC.

To kick off this initiative, from March through June 2021, IWES organized eight training opportunities with PHC to increase their staff’s awareness and capacity around key topics relevant to this program. Please find a list of the opportunities below:

• Trauma-Informed Approaches, Part I: a virtual training facilitated by Dr. Denese Shervington

• Strengths-Based Case Management: a self-paced online course, “Introduction to the Strengths Model,” by the California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions (CIBHS) 

• Trauma-Informed Approaches; Part II: a virtual training facilitated by Dr. Denese Shervington

• Gender-Affirming Care, Part I: a self-paced online course, “Transgender Health,” by the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center 

• Gender-Affirming Care, Part 2: a virtual training facilitated by Dietz and Camilla Marchena 

• IPV Competency & Awareness: a virtual training facilitated by the New Orleans Family Justice Center

• Intersection of HIV and IPV: a virtual training facilitated by the New Orleans Family Justice Center and Christi La Mark, LMSW,  MPH

• Health Literacy: a virtual training facilitated by Kenyatta Parker, DrPH, MPH and featuring LA CaTS Center’s webinar, “The Role of Health Literacy in Improving Health Communication” by Terry Davis, PhD

Welcome to the team Chasity and Ari!

To further support Black women living with HIV as they juggle multiple appointments, complicated treatment plans and other needs and challenges, Priority Health Care hired two Health Navigators, Chasity Smith and Ari Davis, to lead our patient navigation programs that will begin this summer. As health navigators, they assist participants to stay in care, accompany them to appointments, advocate for them during appointments, follow-up regularly, celebrate successes and connect them to self-care and other supportive services, as needed. Chasity and Ari will spend extra time with participants, holding space for them to voice their challenges and develop care plans based on their priorities. Welcome, Chasity and Ari, we’re excited to work with you!

Help us spread the word! 

Recruitment and enrollment for our patient navigation programs, Alexis Project and the Guide to Healing, will begin this month, August 2021. Participants will be compensated for their participation in program activities. Please contact Priya Lewis (she/her), IWES’ HRSA Sr. Program Manager, for more information about the program, or contact Priority Health Care’s Enrollment Coordinator Ariel Harness (she/her/they) at (504) 544-0824 to enroll!