Monday, April 7, 2025
4/7/2025
Ryan White Title III HIV Capacity Development and Planning Grants - Vista Community Clinic 1000 Vale Terrace Drive Vista, CA 92084-5218 Shannon Paugh, Director 760-631-5000, x7203 spaugh@vcc.org www.vcc.org $103,068 Introduction -- Vista Community Clinic (VCC) is proposing to increase the percentage of its patients living with HIV (PLWH) who make and keep dental/mental health appointments and fulfill referrals for those dental/mental health care provided by external service providers. Background – VCC is a large Federally Qualified Health Center (63,000 patients served in 2023) that provides primary care, specialty care, project and program-based services, and other basic needs and social services to a very low-income population in North San Diego County. VCC has, for many years, been recognized as the primary provider of HIV prevention services and comprehensive services extended to PLWH. VCC has provided HIV/AIDS education and prevention program services to high-risk populations, and primary care services to HIV-positive individuals, since 1987: for nearly four decades. VCC’s comprehensive array of HIV-related services includes primary care, mental healthcare, substance use treatment, medical and non-medical case management, prevention services including PrEP, outreach, counseling and testing, linkage to primary care, risk reduction interventions, and referral to essential support services, legal services, and transportation assistance. Need -- VCC’s HIV Services program is committed to serving people living with HIV/AIDS and other populations at high risk of HIV infection, including men having sex with men (MSM), intravenous drug users (IDU), and transgender individuals and their partners. At any given moment VCC’s HIV Services Program is serving approximately 400 unduplicated PLWH. The demographics of VCC’s PLWH patients between 2018 and the first month of 2024 are as follows: 44% are 25-44, and 44% are 45-64; 81% are male, 16% female, and 3% transgender; 42% are Latinx, 35% White non-Latinx, 10% Black, and 2% Asian. PLWH experience a greater incidence of dental problems than those without HIV, and equally the incidence of mental health problems is higher among the PLWH population, given the physiological effects of the virus, and the tremendous challenges that PLWH face related to the stigma surrounding HIV, fear and anxiety related to living with HIV, and the enhanced challenges of daily life under these circumstances. Proposed Project – Key project activities will include development of workflows that will ensure that HIV staff incorporate promotion of dental and mental health services in the context of their general and ongoing interactions with the program’s PLWH patients. HIV staff will create new reports that will identify: PLWH patients who have not completed a dental screening; and PLWH patients whose PHQ-9 (mental health screening tool to identify depression) scores suggest a need for additional assessment and, potentially, treatment. Reports also will identify PLWH patients with missed dental and mental health appointments. These reports will drive contact with all PLWH patients. Staff also will track missed appointments, and will attempt to contact those with missed appointments to reschedule. Staff will receive training that will support improvement in patient engagement skills, while bolstering their understanding of the social determinants of health, and the manner in which each patient’s relationship to SDOH can have a significant effect on that patient’s perspective regarding use of the services offered, and that patient’s ability to navigate service systems, access care, and maintain relationships with caregivers. As a result of the proposed activities, the percentage of PLWH patients making and keeping dental appointments will increase from 16% to 25% and those making and keeping mental health appointments will increase from 11% to 20%.
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).