Wednesday, January 15, 2025
1/15/2025
The Integrated Outreach and Care (IOC) program is a partnership between several clinics that all operate within the Meharry Medical College Academic Medical Center, the largest HBCU medical center in the country. It brings together the Meharry Addiction Clinic, the Nashville Alliance for Drug User Safety (NADUS) and the Patient Navigation for Addiction Treatment and HIV/HCV Treatment and Care (PATH) from the Department of Family and Community Medicine. We are also partnering with the Meharry Community Wellness Center, the Department of Internal Medicine's infectious disease clinic and largest Ryan White HIV provider in Nashville. Finally, the Elam Mental Health Center, a clinic of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the city's safety net mental health and substance use provider clinic. We will integrate our outreach efforts with the clinic services to provide a one stop shop for HIV, viral hepatitis, substance use disorder treatment, mental health, and harm reduction services. We will focus on underserved African American communities as well as the burgeoning homeless population in Nashville. The combination of expertise within the three partner departments will allow us to meet the goals of (1) identifying, engaging, and supporting individuals who are racial and ethnic minorities, use substances and are at risk for, or living with HIV and other blood borne pathogens access the services they need to successfully transition to health and wellness; and (2) solidify and augment the system of care to provide a welcoming, culturally appropriate, and trauma informed community-based continuum of substance use and health services. The timing of these funds is very critical for our county as the state returned nearly $12 million dollars in CDC funding ear marked for HIV testing and surveillance. Receipt of these funds will allow us to begin to fill the gaps left by the loss of CDC funding in this area.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).