Ryan White Capacity Building at the Bluegrass Care Clinic

Goall. To gather data, information, and ideas to build an infrastructure for outreach and to improve patient retention by (1) conducting pilot outreach activities and (2) meeting with key informants, as well as consumer and community groups. Objective 1.1. Pilot Outreach Activity 1. Create communications tools and build a network with area health care providers and indigenous minority CBOs to encourage referrals of HIVinfected persons. Have network, informational packets, video, and Web site in-place by Month 12 of the project. The BCC's website, http://www.mc.uky.edulbluegrasscareclinic. was created during the first quarter of the grant and has continued to function and to be updated weekly. There has been an average of 226 unique hits per day with an average of 17 visitors per day. Two patients have entered care due to viewing the website, and one other patient was linked to the Dental Reimbursement program after viewing the resources available from the site. Patients are being educated about the site through signage in the clinic and have been encouraged to forward information to at-risk individuals who may benefit from testing and/or treatment options. Work began during the first quarter to develop a video that would build HIV awareness in our region, link HIV-infected people to the BCC, and counteract the trend within vulnerable populations to delay diagnosis/treatment. Committee members decided on script audience and content during these brainstorming sessions. During the second quarter committee members and clinic staff reviewed existing videos to evaluate the types of questions asked and issues addressed. Using this information, committee members elected to use a question and answer format for the clinic's video. Five patients were originally identified to appear in the video, however, two developed significant concerns about confidentiality issues. Original goals were to complete video taping during the second quarter, however challenges related to patient and family confidentiality delayed the process. Taping took place during the third quarter that included patients, willing to give a face to HIV/AIDS, and providers (MD, RN, PharmD.) that explained the course of treatment, reasons to seek early treatment, and programs available to finance care. During the fourth quarter work was completed on compiling the footage and editing the tape to provide a polished finished project for delivery across the state. The clinic has initiated several tools to facilitate entry into care and to track patient referral information to the clinic. Educational packets have been prepared and delivered to the University of Kentucky Emergency Department. Training sessions with the Emergency Department and Hospital Social Services have been conducted to reinforce the importance of identifying patients appropriate for screening and how to distribute clinic material and link patients into care. During the first quarter the clinic's nurse case manager developed a new screening tool to help capture data on the patient's referral source as they enter into care at the clinic; this information is entered into the clinic's LabTracker database for further analysis. Finally, a patient handbook has been compiled in English and Spanish that provides all patients with information regarding HIV/AIDS infection and services offered at the clinic.