STOP HIV Outreach Team
The VCH STOP HIV Outreach Team is an intensive case management team comprised of nurses, social workers, outreach workers, and peers who support individuals who experience challenges engaging or maintaining their linkage to care and/or adhering to their HIV medication treatment programs.
Scope
The team’s mandate is to engage clients who experience barriers to accessing the current system of HIV prevention, care and treatment. Priority populations include clients experiencing complex mental health and substance use addiction issues, stigma or lack of culturally safe services for Indigenous Peoples, and those who identify with LGBT2Q+, youth and immigrant or refugee communities.
Key Functions and Roles
The HIV/ AIDS Case Management Team will provide the following services:
- HIV, STI and Hepatitis screening and diagnosis;
- Outreach to and referral into the network of care for HIV-positive patients (newly diagnosed or those lost to follow-up);
- Public health follow-up for HIV-positive cases, including contact tracing and social networking approaches to identify others vulnerable to infection;
- Basic primary care for HIV-positive individuals until connected to an ongoing source of care;
- Intensive case management and treatment support for clients unable to engage in a clinic-based care and treatment program while addressing barriers to linking these clients to an ongoing source of care;
- Develop partnerships with community physicians and nurses in private practice, community health centers, Dentists, pharmacies, the criminal justice system, and other sectors, focusing on housing, food security and wider social determinants of health.