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The Heart of Illinois HIV/AIDS
Center has been awarded a three-year, $880,000 Ryan White grant to boost access
to HIV testing and medical care for affected women and children in the region.
HIHAC is one of 114 organizations to receive the federal Health Resources and
Services Administration (HRSA) grants totaling $68 million.
“We are seeing more and more young
people testing HIV-positive, reluctant to get into care and/or coming into care
late in their disease stage,” said Pam Briggs, director HIHAC. “We can use the
new grant to target this group and work diligently to get them into care
quicker, reducing the risk of opportunistic infections, AIDS diagnoses and
continued spread of the virus.”
HIHAC serves 15 counties in central
Illinois, providing comprehensive care and services. It is a program under the
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria Department of Internal
Medicine. The funding through June 2015 will allow the organization to:
*Increase HIV testing to an
additional 150 women and adolescents unaware of their status.
*Provide HIV primary care to 131
women and 44 young people ages 13-24.
*Continue perinatal services to an
average of eight pregnant women.
*Expand HIHAC’s nursing team from
four to five.
*Increase mental health and
substance abuse services.
*Boost treatment adherence and
specialty referrals for OB/GYN, mammography and other ancillary services as
needed.
“Thanks to the HRSA grant we will be
able to create a team to target adolescents and women throughout the region who
may be infected with HIV and not aware of their diagnosis,” said Briggs. “This
is great news for patients.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
