HRSA SPNS Border Grantees Conference Call

September 16, 2002 @ 10:30 am

Participants: John Wiebe, Michael Tarter, Mari Zuniga, Alisa Olshefsky, Rosana Scolari, Elias Cantu, Adan Cajina, Veronica Salcido-Harding, Yvonne Roacho, Michelle Valverde, Kari Maier, Steve Trujillo, Tim Brittingham, Gregg Fryday, Ahmad Saleem Ahmad, George Lasoya, Barbara Estrada, Betty Duran

Dissemination: (Barbara Estrada) Tony Estrada has suggested that the grantees think about the following questions that could guide what activities the group can discuss during the dissemination meeting in DC in January. (1) What de we hope to achieve during the dissemination meeting? (2) What multi-site papers do we want to develop and who would be authors for those papers? (3) Develop an action plan (information, data, analysis) (4) What local publications are planned? Barbara suggested that this questions could generate ideas for further discussions during upcoming conference calls in preparation for the meeting in January. Mari agreed with Barbara’s suggestion, and stated this would allow individuals to outline their ideas for publications. Mari will mail a copy of “Principles of Authorship” to Betty to be forwarded to all grantees.

Project Reports:

Arizona Border HIV/AIDS Care:

• 20 Client consent forms obtained from the SIA clinic – follow-up with outlying clinics to determine how many consent they have completed for the medical chart reviews to be conducted by OU

• US/Mexico HIV/AIDS Border Conference was held last week. Feedback was very positive.

Camino de Vida:

q PROGRAMMATIC: (Veronica)

• 10^th Annual International Candlelight Vigil, August 25, 2002
• Medical Chart Reviews
• Promotores Trainings: 2 scheduled, August 16^th & September 13^th
• Health Outreach Worker (HOW); Started testing at City of Hope Homeless Shelter, approximately 32 number of tests; Received 1 HIV-positive test
• Provider Dinner scheduled for October 2, 2002 with Dr. Kevin Carmichael as the speaker
• CdV Clinical Staff HIV/AIDS & Hepatitis C Co-Infection Training

q LOCAL EVALUATION: (Michelle)

• Medical Chart Reviews: 39 Consents have been secured and 7 are still pending to be received by mail; 16 clients have been hard to reach; Number of possible consents is 63 total. Clients receive care at approximately 13 sites.
• Presentation in Tucson went well;
• Module 15 has been translated and is ready to go out;
• We will have numbers to report next conference call in terms of # of tests and contacts for fiscal year 3.
• Jennifer, graduate intern, submitted IRB application for prevention research

Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe:

• Tony Chavez resigned from agency – America Jones will server as interim director

• Salvador Belcorta will meet with Dr. Wiebe and America this week to do some strategic planning for their project

• The project continues to collect data – presently working on Barriers module for times I and II. Dr. Wiebe is considering using electronic submission of data to OU.

• Agency has completed 125 Medical consent forms – plan to get 150 for reviews which will be conducted next week.

San Ysidro Health Center:

Programmatic/Dissemination:

§ Priorities for carryover funding request – HIV testing at specific partner sites

§ Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo, partner site in Imperial County– difficulties identifying a Promotora program to conduct SPNS outreach services.

§ Record number of cases identified at SYHC in a one-month period – 13 new HIV cases enrolled in Case Management in the month of August 2002.

§ Debate over qualifications for nutrition counseling services – The Standards of Care Committee of San Diego County is currently debating the issue of requiring a Registered Dietician vs. “other” qualified provider to provide nutrition counseling services in the SD County.

· Dissemination activities:

Local SPNS consent form template for participant recruitment was provided to a UCSD HIV/AIDS clinical trials research study. Rosana identified the need for a consent document in Spanish and Mari contacted the director of AIDS research at UCSD to share the document.

The Southern CA Border HIV/AIDS Project has been selected to do a presentation at this year’s Binational HIV/STD conference being held in Tijuana in November.

Evaluation:

§ On 9/12/02 UCSD IRB contacted Dr. Zúñiga regarding the chart review process. In response to an apparent IRB committee oversight regarding review of medical record charts, our study will have to be submitted for full committee review as opposed to its current category of projects for expedited review. As part of the additional review process, Centro de Evaluación has provided their IRB letter from U OK for submission to UCSD. All requested documents have been submitted to the UCSD IRB and the committee will convene on Friday Sept. 27. At this time it is not anticipated that any problems will arise as a result of needing full committee review. It is also anticipated that the chart reviews will proceed as planned.

§ Update on chart review consent forms. To date of the 158 charts for review the staff at the CHC’s expect to obtain 107 consent forms. Charts from Imperial Valley (approximately 4-hrs drive time) will be copied and sent to UCSD for review. Agreements have been made with two additional CHC’s to review SPNS client charts at these locations.

Valley AIDS Council:

• UTHSCSA (Yolanda Cantu and Dale Schweers) Site Visit scheduled for Tuesday, August 27, 2002.
• Yolanda Cantu (Project Evaluator) and Dale Schweers (Project Management Information) reviewed “Tickler System” list with Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator).
• Will request “Closure Form” from Dr. David Barney (University of Oklahoma) to minimize length of the tickler system list.
• Scheduled conference call with Carol Ybarra (Data Profiler) and Janie Delgado (Data Entry) for September 10, 2002 to discuss data collection and data issues.
• Conference Call will be followed by Technical Assistance visit to VAC scheduled for September 11, 2002.
• Dale Schweers installed Database for Proyecto Juntos Data Collection Tool for the Social Marketing Campaign.
• Database will provide capacity for queries for quantitative purposes.
• Yolanda Cantu (Project Evaluator) and Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) met with Randy Alligood (Case Manager) to discuss SPNS patients from Nuestra Clinica Del Valle (NCDV).
• Discussed the new patients that were scheduled for Nursing Assessment with Belinda Rodriguez, LVN.
• The patient requested to see Dr. D’Lima (SPNS Physician) on the same day of the nursing assessment.
• The patient is a former inmate with Texas Department of Corrections (TDC).
• Janie Delgado (Data Entry) submitted updated data to Tim Brittingham (University of Oklahoma-Information Technology Analyst).
• Janie Delgado (Data Entry) contacted Connie Villarreal (United Medical Centers) and Gustavo De la Cerda (United Medical Centers) from Eagle Pass in reference to SPNS data needed.
• Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) requested updated list of SPNS patients from Janie Delgado (Data Entry) that are pending signatures for the Medical Chart Review Consent.
• Adelaida Renteria (VAC Receptionist) entered list on Access program in alphabetical order along with the name of the designated Case Manager for the patient.
• Case Managers were each provided with a list of the SPNS patients on their caseload that need Consents for the Medical Chart Review. Case Managers prioritized their home visits as a result of the list provided to them.
• Adelaida Renteria also provided copies of the patients scheduled for Doctor’s appointment and Lab appointments on a daily basis.
• Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) set up substation at Receptionist Desk and Nurses Station to intercept and meet with SPNS patients that are lacking Medical Chart Review Consent form signatures.
• Collected approximately 5 consents per day.
• Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) requested list from Randy Alligood (Case Manager) stationed in McAllen, Texas.
• Randy Alligood submitted the Consents that he has obtained to present date from the McAllen area patients.
• Monica Ruiz (SPNS Meeting Coordinator) sent out the Agendas for the next SPNS Partnership Meeting on October 24, 2002.
• Meeting will be held at the Sheraton Fiesta in South Padre Island from 9:00 AM-12:30 PM.
• Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) also sent out a reminder of the next SPNS Partnership Meeting to SPNS Partners. (September 3, 2002).
• Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) also contacted SPNS Partners via telephone communication to remind them about the next SPNS Partnership meeting. (August 30, 2002).
• Monica Ruiz (SPNS Meeting Coordinator) sent out the flyers for the AETC Presentation/Dinner.
• AETC Training/Dinner will be held on October 23, 2002 at South Padre Island-Sheraton Fiesta from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.
• AETC Training will be presented by Dr. Fernando Garcia (VAC-Medical Director) and sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
• Presentation: “Post-Exposure Prophylaxis”.
• Monica Balboa (AETC Coordinator) scheduled Dr. Sinclair for preceptorship with Dr. Jorge Barboza-Sosa at United Medical Centers in Eagle Pass for September 13, 2002 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
• Preceptorship was cancelled due to Dr. Sinclair injuring his arm.
• Attended the Ryan White CARE Act 2002 Grantee Conference on August 20-23, 2002 at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC.
• Presentation: “Lessons Learned Cultural Sensitivity Treatment and Retention” by Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) and Charles R. Smith (SPNS Director).
• Presentation: “Reaching Special Populations: Women/Barriers to Women in Accessing HIV Care” by Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) and Charles R. Smith (SPNS Director).
• Meeting with Norma Trigo (Entracause Representative) was rescheduled, as she was unable to attend the Ryan White CARE Act 2002 Conference.
• Purpose of meeting was to discuss Social Marketing campaign with Univision Television stations along the US/Mexico border.
• Betty Duran (University of Oklahoma-Project Evaluator) requested travel arrangements and reservations to be submitted by VAC for the next SPNS Border Grantees meeting on January 8-10, 2003 at the Parklawn Building in Rockville, Maryland.
• Elias Cantu, Jr. forwarded requests for travel arrangements to Monica Ruiz (SPNS Meeting Coordinator).
• Ruth Roman (HRSA-Rockville, Maryland) contacted Elias Cantu, Jr. (SPNS Coordinator) and Dr. Fernando Garcia (VAC Medical Director) in reference to the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) in Anaheim, California.
• The USCA Institute Presentation will be held from September 19-22, 2002.
• The travel and hotel expenses will be covered by the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC).
• Presentation: “From the Heartlands to the Border” by Dr. Fernando Garcia and Elias Cantu, Jr.
• There will be two panel presentations focusing upon border perspectives and rural perspectives.
• Dr. Fernando Garcia and Elias Cantu, Jr. will present on Border perspectives.
• Ahmad Saleem G. Ahmad (University of Oklahoma) contacted VAC in reference to the Medical Chart Review scheduled for September 2002.

Evaluation Center:

1. Medical Chart reviews begin next week – has everyone received their federal express package with forms and supplies? Need to ensure that each consent form has a URN number written on the top right hand corner of the page. Copy of the consent needs to be available for each chart to be reviewed. Consultants will contact project director or coordinator at each SPNS project site.

2. Border SPNS Grantees Meeting: Set for January 8 – 10, 2003 at the Parklawn Building in Rockville, Maryland. Lodging is at the Double Tree Hotel – Betty needs confirmation on lodging by the end of this week. Project should plan to be in DC all week.

3. Site Visits: Betty reminded grantees that site visits can be scheduled for anytime after the second week of November based on agency needs and availability.

HRSA Update:

1. CD Rom - Betty advised the grantees that the Border Initiative has been selected to participate in the development of a CD ROM on Outreach with Border populations. The costs for this effort are covered by HRSA and is arranged through a private contractor. The contractor will be in contract with each grantee to schedule a possible appointment during which they will visit the project and take photographs of the agency and areas where outreach is conducted. The actual interviews for the CD ROM will be filmed on January 7, 2003 at the Doubletree Hotel in Rockville, Maryland. Grantees will be provided a list of questions to which they will be asked to respond during the filming.

Rosana inquired if it would be possible to conduct the dissemination meeting concurrently with the filming, in order to reduce the amount of time spent in Washington, DC. Grantees agreed with Rosana. Betty will check for space at the Doubletree Hotel. Mari said if space was not available, then grantees could meet in a guest room. This will change the meeting dates to January 7 (dissemination) and January 8-9 for regular grantees meeting at the Parklawn Building.