TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is proud to announce that the Bureaus of Health Promotion and Disease Control and Prevention have secured a $500,000 grant for Kansas Community Health Care Workers (CHW) to provide support for persons living with HIV in rural counties. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention awarded Kansas, two other states and Puerto Rico this funding.
The grant project aims to hire, train and deploy community health workers to work with persons living with HIV over a three-year period. CHWs will focus on those individuals diagnosed with HIV in rural communities who are not in care or not virally suppressed, with specific attention paid to mental health, substance use disorder, and social determinants of health. The arranging and scheduling of visits with HIV medical providers, transportation and medication adherence support will also be provided. There are 559 persons living with HIV in frontier, rural and densely settled rural counties in Kansas or counties that have less than 40 persons per square mile.
“Community Health Workers are a link between individuals in the community and healthcare/social services,” Jackie Catron, KDHE section director for Community Health Workers, Bureau of Health Promotion, said. “They connect with those hard-to-reach individuals, the most underserved areas, and the most vulnerable populations, connecting them to social resources and health care needs. CHWs are trusted community members and a perfect fit to reach this population of focus.”
“For years, access to care in rural populations in Kansas has been an unmet need. People in rural communities often have to travel a good distance to access HIV care. Adding the Community Health Workers to our efforts to help people maintain medical care is a big step toward meeting that need,” Debra Guilbault, KDHE section chief for STI/HIV/Hep C Prevention, Care and Surveillance, Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, said. “The Ryan White program is excited to work with the Bureau of Health Promotion to increase testing and care and improve the health outcomes of Kansans living with HIV.”
The awarded funds will allow the Bureau of Health Promotion and the Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention to work with community partners and health care providers to increase access to care, decrease structural barriers, decrease stigma, and decrease the number of persons with HIV who are not in care or not virally suppressed. More information regarding Kansas Community Health Care Workers can be found here.
