HRSA 2022 Reflection
The Black Women First Care & Treatment Services (CATS) NOLA initiative, funded through HRSA’s Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS), made great strides this year to improve care and treatment coordination for Black women living with HIV (BWLH) through local patient services and provider trainings. In June, we celebrated the wellness journeys of thirty BWLH participants as they graduated from the Guide to Healing patient navigation program. As part of the months-long program, each woman met with a Priority Health Care (PHC) trusted navigator and with the group to review health and wellness goals, navigate life and healthcare challenges, and identify available supports and resources. Health Navigator Ari Davis co-facilitated the graduation ceremony with Tonja Sorrell, Prevention Manager at PHC, our community partner site.
Upon graduating, each participant received a warm hand-off to a PHC case manager to ensure there weren’t any gaps in their care at the New Orleans West Bank health center. Graduate participants shared that after working with the CATS NOLA peer health navigators, they felt more comfortable and ready to have tough conversations as needed with their case managers moving forward.
According to PHC leadership, the monthly in-person support groups facilitated by CATS NOLA peer health navigators, offered as part of our initiative, were the most successful support groups the clinic has ever facilitated in terms of sustained patient interest, attendance, and participation. Support group topics included:
healthy relationships
finance & new homeowners 101
healthy eating & exercise
sex work
party drugs
transphobia
IPV
how and when to disclose one’s HIV status
One of the best-attended groups focused on self-care, where individuals participated in a group painting project, voiced affirmations aloud, and played BINGO.
Evaluating & Sharing Our Work
Representing IWES on the national stage, Priya Lewis, Senior Program Manager for CATS NOLA, and Jakevia (Green) Wheeler, Director of Programs, delivered a poster presentation on “Centering Peer Health Navigators to Improve Care and Treatment for Black Women Living with HIV” at the 2022 (virtual) National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment in August. Priya co-presented a 90-minute session on “Centering Racial Justice in our Organizations to Reduce HIV Inequities” with representatives from HRSA’s BWF multi-site evaluation team and AIDS Foundation Chicago at this same conference and at the Professional Association of Social Workers in HIV/AIDS (PASWHA) Conference in New Orleans in May.
A participant at the National Ryan White Conference reflected on our “Centering Racial Justice” session with the following:
“The road that is being paved is not an easy road. When all of Black and other women of color raise our voices, women’s voices will be heard. The voice of many cannot be underestimated. My heart is encouraged by all of you.”
What the Future Holds for CATS NOLA
As we move into 2023, the final year of the CATS NOLA initiative, we will complete our data collection activities and lean into what can be learned from our findings. Additionally, after spending several months interviewing Black women living with HIV (BWLH) in the Greater New Orleans area and the providers that serve them, we’re excited to amplify their voices and feedback on how stigma and isolation are experienced in the healthcare system and beyond, what can be done to reduce stigma for BWLH, and how we can increase the feelings of belonging that so often encourage continued treatment and make way for better health outcomes. We look forward to sharing the stigma reduction resources that we have been collaborating on in the near future.