Grant to Expand Early Intervention Services for HIV Patients

The Lake County Health Department/Community Health Center has received a grant to expand its early intervention healthcare services to HIV-positive patients. The $50,000 grant (which will be distributed over a three-year period) will support the Department's Medical Management Clinic, which serves approximately 300 Lake County residents.

The grant will assist the Health Department in providing targeted outreach, counseling, testing and referral, as well as a link to healthcare and social support services. It was one of six grants distributed in Chicago and the collar counties, through the Chicago Department of Public Health as part of the Ryan White Part A funds.

“This is an opportunity for the Health Department to take a proactive approach to assure that anyone in Lake County who is diagnosed with HIV is quickly engaged in a healthcare system to address specific needs of an HIV infection, and to address the community's need to reduce further transmission of the disease,” said Irene T. Pierce, Executive Director for the Lake County Health Department/Community Health Center.

The grant will make it possible for the Department to hire two new staff - a counselor and a peer advocate with experience in navigating services for HIV care. The role of these staff will be to help ensure that patients stay in care and have a supportive healthcare system in which to work. The grant will particularly help the Department in providing services for minority youths in Lake County.

The Health Department is seeing an increase in the number of minority youths testing positive for HIV, Pierce said. “Unfortunately, those who are unaware of their infection may not see symptoms for at least the first five years after contracting the virus and until they develop symptoms, they may unknowingly be putting their partners at risk,” she said.

HIV is a manageable disease and the goal of this and other programs through the Health Department is to protect the health of our community and residents.

She pointed to epidemiological research conducted by Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine called the Northwestern Project that investigates the effects of incarceration upon minorities who are at risk of HIV infection without realizing so. Research conducted in this study has strong implications to the Lake County community and this grant is expected to address some of the initial findings already being reported.

Following is a link to that information: http://www.wardrounds.northwestern.edu/winter-2010-11/features/unlocking-health-disparities/

The Medical Management Clinic of the Health Department provides medical and psychosocial care as well as referrals and links to social support services. It is located at the Health Department's Belvidere Medical Building, 2400 Belvidere Road, in Waukegan. Here is a link to the clinic's Web site page. http://lakecountyil.gov/Health/want/MMC.htm.