Border Grantees Conference Call

August 12, 2002 @ 10:30 am

Participants: Rosana Scolari, Mari Zuniga, Alisa Olshefsky, Steve Trujillo, Ken Burton, Tony Estrada, Kari Maier, Veronica Harding, Michelle Valverde, Jennifer Felderman, America Jones, John Wiebe, Elias Cantu, Yolanda Cantu, Robyn Schulhof, Michael Tarter, Pam Reid Duffy, Robert Castrillo, Kurt Organista, David Barney, Betty Duran, Tim Brittingham, Herman Curiel, Ahmad Saleem

Dissemination: Discussion lead by Tony Estrada. He recommend grantees focus on to topics which could result in some short term dissemination products.

1. Descriptive Paper – Tony will request data from OU for review

2. Qualitative Study – Betty will lead this effort with assistance from Herman Curiel and Mari Zuniga. Betty suggested we focus on peer reviewed journals for publication versus a monograph.

Regular dissemination committee conference will be scheduled. Tony will provide Betty with the date. Grantees selected meeting to be held on Mondays at 10:30 am. Betty advised that committee members consist of the project evaluator and project director/coordinator, HRSA is represented by Robyn Schulhof and Ou is represented by David Barney.

Conference Calls: Betty asked for feedback from grantees on how often they would like to hold conference calls (every 3 – 4 or 5 weeks). Grantees choose to hold one monthly conference call to be held on the first Monday of each month. If a holiday occurs on the first Monday, the call will be scheduled for the 2^nd Monday of the month. Betty will arrange the conferece call list and sent it to all grantees.

Project Reports:

Arizona Border HIV/AIDS Care:

Trainings: Dr. Carmichael continues to travel to border CHC to conduct clinics and provide educational consultation to physicians. Ken Burton is working on establishing the contract with Dr. Tomas to provide HIV specialty care to patients at Sunset Clinic in Yuma.

Pam Reid Duffy to report.

Out Reach Activities: Yuma County – Outreach continues to occur by Puentes de Amistad, Yuma County Health Department and Campesinos Sin Frontera. The YCHD tested 53 individuals in April all results negative, 77 individuals in June with one positive. YCHD is waiting for him to return for his results risk factor MSM.

Santa Cruz County – Platicamos Salud continues to outreach activities to the clients of Southeastern Arizona Behavioral Health (SEABH), truck stops and motels. The summer youth training program ended August 1^st approximately 30 youth participated in the program. These youth will be used as peer educators in the community and schools.

Cochise County – Case manager (Eunice Parks) and Patricia Perry of Cochise County Health Department (CCHD) the staff responsible for HIV programming in Cochise County currently are continuing the outreach efforts. CCHD hired Eleazar Garcia, MD who is replacing Sharon Schinstock he will over see the ABHAC activities in Cochise County. Dr. Garcia is knowledgeable in HIV/AIDS and is active in the community. Dr. Garcia came from the University of Arizona Rural Health Office.

Chiricahua Community Health Center has begun to see patients at the clinic and discussions are under way to see patients at their Douglas site. In the Douglas site patients will have to be seen by a Nurse Practitioner with Dr. Carmichael. Due to a clause in Dr. Avina’s contract from her previous employer.

The Border Health Foundation’s Director of Border Field Offices Charlie Anderson has scheduled to meet with Dr. Ginger Ryan to discuss outreach efforts in Cochise County. Dr. Anderson with contact Cochise County Health Department to discuss collaborative activities with their Compañeros promotoras program.

Dissemination Activities: Working on the presentations for the all Titles meeting in Washington and Border Conference.

Project Enrollment: no change

Local Evaluation: The next scheduled meeting of the ABHAC Project collaborators is scheduled for November 1, 2002.

Announcement: US-Mexico HIV/AIDS Border Conference September 9-11, 2002 information is available at www.elrio.org.

Camino de Vida:

Program

• The plans for the tri-state, bi-national vigil are moving forward; is at

the end of August

• A Promotora Forum will be occurring in Las Cruces the week of September

23

• Am finalizing the local subcontracts

Research and Evaluation

• IRB Progress Report approved on July 23, 2002; the Spanish version of 13 is complete so the new and improved 13 will be launched this week

• In terms of the chart reviews, Yvonne has secured 11 consents from the clients; Veronica is developing packets for the providers and will be meeting with them about the chart reviews

• Given that the changes to Module 15 were approved, we will be having it translated and sent out after the chart review consents are secured

• Have been sharing highlights from All-Grantee meeting with the Outreach Team, Jennifer, Kari, etc.; thank you to everyone - it was very informative (and fun too)

• Based on an interesting discussion with the Outreach Team last Thursday, we may have a very severe under-reporting of MSM in terms of the local outreach data that we are collecting

• Have started to work on presentations for All-Titles

• Jennifer assisted the Prevention Case Manager in developing a pre/post assessment and will be seeking IRB approval to use the data in her internship project beginning next summer

Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe:

Since returning from Washington, we have continued to enroll patients as we have been able to speak with them.  Plans have been laid for Year 2 evaluation efforts.  We have a meeting for research assistants scheduled on Wednesday, and assessment should begin directly thereafter.  Assistants helping with data collection in Year 2 will be:

*       Noah Clayton -- Noah is a new student in our Clinical Psychology M.A. Program.  He has interests in health psychology research.  He is fluent in Spanish and has lived in Mexico for the past year.

*       Oscar Esparza -- Oscar is a second-year Clinical M.A. student.  He is working on a thesis examining sexual risk taking among Hispanic college students, and will be.  He lives in Juarez, Mexico.

*       Dolores Hernandez -- Dolores is a third-year Health Psychology Ph.D. Student.  She is doing research related to disclosure of HIV status and its effect on health.  She has been doing a clinical internship with low-income Spanish-speaking clients from clinics affiliated with the UTEP School of Nursing.

*       Virginia Longoria -- Virginia is finishing up her M.A. in Clinical Psychology, and has been working on a bilingual measure of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, along with Dr. Meza and Rosa Vasquez.  She recently finished the same internship that Dolores is completing.

*       Ernesto Marin -- Ernesto is a new student in the Clinical Psychology M.A. Program.  He is fluently bilingual and has helped with data collection in the past.  He recently completed an honors thesis examining the effects of social support on health in HIV+ individuals.

San Ysidro Health Center:

Programmatic/Dissemination

· Social Marketing Campaign – update

· Dissemination activities:

On July 31, 2002, the Southern California SPNS project was highlighted as part of a presentation at the US/Mexico Binational HIV/AIDS Roundtable hosted by UCSD for physicians and other providers of HIV care. MLZ participated in this program.

Providers from both sides of the border (Including San Diego, Tijuana and Mexicali, Baja California) spent an afternoon reviewing HIV infection trends and discussing opportunities for local cross border collaboration. Principle topics of discussion included cross-border sharing of information between providers on patient health status (medications, CD4 cell count and viral load). This includes follow-up information requested by Tijuana providers on patients returning to Mexico after participating in Clinical Trials. The need for improved epidemiological reporting of HIV and AIDS cases in Tijuana and lack of medical resources were also discussed.

Evaluation

· UCSD IRB submission..

Multi-site Data: 7/1/01- 8/7/02

1) Number of HIV + persons enrolled : 104

2) Number of persons enrolled through HIV testing: 1293

3) Number of results through HIV testing = 826

HIV positive- 19

HIV negative- 806

Inconclusive- 1

Total- 826

Note: the number of outstanding results (1293 – 826 = 467) is essentially the number of persons who have had HIV tests minus the number of results that have been reported to UCSD through HIV testing. UCSD Evaluation Team is currently in the process of providing lists to partner sites of all clients for whom test results are missing (approximately 36% of all tested need results).

Local Data:

4) Number of outreach contacts (estimate):

1446 in database + 1600 yet to enter

Approximate total = 3046

Valley AIDS Council:

• Contacted Univision representative “Oscar Moreno” in regards to brochures for the Social Marketing campaign. (July 16, 2002)
• Final version of brochures needed for Power Point presentation in Rockville, Maryland.
• Additional brochures needed by “Promotoras”, as per Andy Villa (Director of Education).
• Original delivery was short on brochures.
• Contacted Univision representative “Joel Moreno” in regards to obtaining copy of “Proyecto Juntos” television commercial for Power Point presentation for Rockville, Maryland.
• Received “Proyecto Juntos” phone call from local physician, Dr. Dill, in regards to two at-risk females who are teenagers. (July 16, 2002).
• Referred the call to Andy Villa, Director of Education.
• Andy Villa replied to Dr. Dill’s request and offered consultation/testing options.
• The information was requested by the mother of a 15 yr. old girl for her daughter and her girlfriend..
• Received request from La Joya Independent School District representative, Irma Villalon. (July 17, 2002).
• Requested posters and brochures 1/3 English and 2/3 Spanish.
• Requested approximately 10 posters.
• Univision representative “Fabi Villanueva” discussed new radio script for Social Marketing campaign.
• Also discussed radio airtime schedule.
• Attended Training entitled “Vision and Tears from a Child’s Heart” in Weslaco, Texas at public library. (July 29, 2002).
• Speaker was Gustavo Cantu who has several years experience in the field of juvenile criminal justice.
• SPNS Partnership Meeting held July 19, 2002 at Valley AIDS Council in McAllen, Texas.
• Year 3 Contracts: United Medical Center, Nuestra Clinica Del Valle, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
• Social Marketing Campaign (July 8, 200) kickoff.
• Victor Fraga, Director of Finance, presented to CFO’s and Case Managers billing system.
• Discussed services allowable under specific grants.
• Sample of purchase order voucher.
• Allowed for Questions and Answers from group.
• Medical Chart reviews in September 2002.
• Annie Mendoza and team will review 272 charts.
• Consent Forms needed for each patient prior to review.
• Telemedicine System.
• AETC Presentation by Dr. Fernando Garcia sponsored by Abbot Pharmaceuticals.
• Jim Odom (BCHC) contacted SPNS Coordinator about AETC Presentations in the future.
• Site Visit with Yolanda last week on July 11, 2002.
• Local Data Evaluation.
• Preparation for Ryan White All Titles Meeting in Washington, DC.
• Presentation: Lessons Learned Cultural Sensitivity Treatment and Retention.
• Presentation: Reaching Special Populations: Women/Barriers to Women in Accessing Care.
• Met with Entracause Marketing representative “Norma Trigo” from San Antonio, Texas in regards to Social Marketing campaign.
• Discussed Univision television stations available along the US/Mexico border from Texas to California.
• Discussed available sponsors: Pharmaceutical representative contacts, Cristina Saralegui’s “Up with Life” Foundation.

PROJECT DATA COLLECTION ACTIVITIES

· Project data collection at a steady pace. As of August 5, 2002, there are 178 unduplicated records in the Local Database.

· As of April 8, 2002 a total of 622 duplicated forms have been entered in the multi site database:

142 Demographic A Project Implementation Date: 030101

133 Lifestyle B Project Implementation Date: 030101

147 Risk Factor D Project Implementation Date: 070101

82 Quality of Life E Project Implementation Date: 070101

81 Barriers to Care F Project Implementation Date: 110101

37 Client Satisfaction G Project Implementation Date: 070101

LOCAL EVALUATION SYSTEM LEVEL INTERVENTION ACTIVITIES

Critical Incidents

• The physician at Brownsville continues to manage HIV cases assumed as part of project activities. Decision pending regarding how cases will be managed once this physician leaves. Evaluators will continue to track and document developments in this area.

OTHER EVALUATION ACTIVITIES

· Data flow is steady

· Currently working on modifications to the local evaluation plan

o Focus on developing short qualitative studies

o David will be here in early September to work with us

· Updating our project “tickler” system to facilitate scheduling of follow-up interviews

o Does National Evaluator care about the windows between administrations?

· Plan a follow-up visit on data issues for 08-27-02

· Beginning to develop draft outline paper on the training intervention model

· The Project Coordinator will join the project full-time effective 09-01-03.

· Evaluator visited with Project Staff on 07-11-02. Purpose: to identify/review data issues, meet with data collection and project staff, and discuss future activities.

· Evaluator attended the Juntos Partnership meeting on 7-19-02. Selected project data was reviewed and discussed. Evaluator met with project data collectors, key enterers, and data managers. Follow-meetings and activities were discussed and agreed upon.

· Trip to Eagle Pass is planned for Early September.

· Cases are being identified for qualitative interviews in the LRGV

Evaluation Center:

• Medical chart reviews have been scheduled and consultant contract signed. Schedule of

project reviews is:

1. Centro de Salud Familiar La fe – September 23-28, 2002

2. Valley AIDS Council – August 16, 2002 until complete

3. Camino de Vida – September 23-27, 2002

4. Arizona – October 7-11, 2002

5. San Ysidro – October 14-18, 2002

Training of consultants is scheduled for August 15^th @ 4:00 pm CST

• Ryan White All Titles Meeting: Project should bring power point presentation on CD or disc – arrive in meeting room 15 minutes before presentation.

1. Lessons Learned and Cultural Sensitivity: Tuesday, August 20^th @ 1 – 2:30 pm in Conference Room: Maryland C – Each presenter has 15 minutes – Moderator: Schulhof

2. Outreach with Rural Populations: Wednesday, August 21^st @ 3 – 4:30 pm in Conference Room: Maryland B – Each presenter has 40 minutes – Moderator: Barney

HRSA Updates:

Other: