BTAN Philadelphia To Offer Focused State-of-the-Art Trainings for HIV Medical Case Managers, Activists and Care Providers in 2011

Co-chairs of BTAN Philadelphia, Danielle M. Parks, Program Director of the Women’s Anonymous Test Site and John Elliott Churchville, Chairman and CEO of Liberation Fellowship CDC, announced today the launching of BTAN Philadelphia’s Information and Advocacy Project set to begin operation in February, 2011.

“Over the past year, Philadelphia’s HIV/AIDS service organizations, spurred on by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), have transitioned from a social service type case management model to a medical case management model,” said Danielle Parks. “So there’s an increasing need to ensure that medical case managers, care outreach specialists and prevention counseling and testing specialists are well versed in the science behind HIV medical care, treatment and adherence, so that they can be more proactive in assisting their patients to get into treatment earlier and stay in treatment.” Parks went on to explain that Philadelphia BTAN proposes to convene a ten-month medical treatment and care training program for case managers, care outreach specialists, prevention counseling and testing specialists, AIDS Service Providers and community stakeholders. The sessions will be three hours long and are scheduled once-per-month over a 10-month period from February through November, 2011, on the second Thursday of each month.

John Churchville added that the trainings will culminate in an HIV/AIDS symposium to be held in December, 2011, where participants will share with the HIV treatment and advocacy community what they have learned from the training. “This Project contributes to the overarching vision of BTAN by improving the quality of HIV/AIDS treatment and care for Black Americans by providing medical case managers and care outreach specialists with the tools they need to empower patients to begin treatment earlier, better manage and monitor their own care, and adhere to their treatment regimen,” Churchville said. He indicated that the Project goal is to train, motivate and support medical case managers and care outreach specialists in deepening their knowledge of the science of HIV and AIDS. This includes the various medications that are effective in their treatment, and the ways to communicate that knowledge to patients that build the patients’ health literacy and confidence in communicating with health professionals involved in their treatment.

The first training scheduled for Thursday, February 10th will cover HIV Medications: How they work, Common Side Effects, and Adherence Issues. Early registration for the series of 10 free trainings will open on Wednesday, December 15th. To pre-register, contact Danielle M. Parks at dparks@healthfederation.org, or John Elliott Churchville at jchurchville8@gmail.com.

BTAN Philadelphia, is the local affiliate of The Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN), a dynamic national network laying the foundation for a new era in Black American HIV/AIDS advocacy. BTAN addresses the disproportionate impact HIV/AIDS has on the Black community by focusing on training, mobilizing and networking to improve HIV/AIDS treatment and care for Black Americans. BTAN, the only collaboration of its kind, links Black Americans with HIV into care and treatment, strengthens local and national leadership, connects influential peers, raises HIV science and treatment literacy in Black communities, and advocates for policy change and research priorities.