As of February 1, 2019, our Project Reach Out mobile harm reduction units will also be offering free screenings for chlamydia and gonorrhea. The PRO staff, who travel in vans to areas of high need throughout the Hudson Valley, work primarily with people who are homeless or in unstable housing, and help them access the services they need to reduce the harm of drug use and their risk for HIV, Hepatitis C and STDs.
“We’re eager to offer these expanded services to PRO clients,” said Jennifer Brathwaite, HVCS’ Director of Education and Prevention. “These are two more ways we can help people with really high levels of need access care. Getting a free STD test can be an important step in empowering someone to protect their health, especially since these two STDs can often be asymptomatic. This testing program helps not only our clients but reduces the overall amount of STDs in our community.”
Chlamydia and gonorrhea infection rates in New York State have increased every year since 2013. Infection rates among African-Americans are disproportionately high, making up 23% of chlamydia rates and 33% of gonorrhea cases in 2017. These statistics further support the need for expanded STD testing in the vulnerable neighborhoods where PRO typically offers services.
Devan Marano shares her personal story at the Overdose Awareness Day observance in Newburgh.
On Friday, August 31, 2018, Hudson Valley Community Services partnered with Catholic Charities’ TEAM Newburgh to hold a local observance of International Overdose Awareness Day in front of HVCS’ Newburgh office.
International Overdose Awareness Day is an annual global event held on August 31st which aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. It also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury as a result of drug overdose. International Overdose Awareness Day spreads the message that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable.
The opioid/heroin addiction crisis has had a profound impact on the Hudson Valley over the past few years. In 2016, 367 residents died from opioid overdoses according to the New York State Heroin and Opioid Task Force, and available data on the first three quarters of 2017 suggests similar totals for last year. The epidemic has had a lasting impact on friends, families and neighborhoods—not to mention those who struggle with addiction. HVCS, other healthcare and social support agencies, law enforcement, and local governments have committed resources to prevent overdose deaths, increase the number of residents who seek help for their addiction disorders, and stem the tide of this epidemic. This event was an opportunity to honor and remember those we have lost to addiction disorders via overdose, and continue to educate the community on available resources.
The Hudson Valley’s International Overdose Awareness Day event featured a forum for personal experience speakers, Narcan trainings, educational opportunities, tributes to those lost to overdose, a social media awareness wall, activities to engage children and youth, and free snacks.
Hudson Valley Community Services is excited to announce that we have joined Coordinated Behavioral Health Services (CBHS), an Independent Practice Association (IPA). CBHS is an association of Hudson Valley providers which negotiates contracts for services directly with Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). (In case you’re unfamiliar with that term, an MCO is a health insurance company like MVP or Fidelis).
Joining an IPA will potentially allow us to reach more clients and tap into additional revenue streams not available to us otherwise. Participating in an IPA also gives us a lot more visibility within the community and strengthens our connections. Finally, IPA membership will offer us new training opportunities.
“As healthcare systems become more and more aware of how a patient’s home, life and social networks fit into their healthcare, they’re turning to agencies like HVCS,” said Andrea Straus, HVCS’ Executive Director. “We call these factors the ‘social determinants of health.’ Joining CBHS enables us to remain competitive and help more clients reach their full potential.”
Stay tuned for more information as our collaboration with the other members within the CBHS association develops over time.
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Watch Spectrum News’ video interview with our J. Dewey here.
From the article:
“Ending the HIV epidemic across the state is a collaborative effort, and recent data statewide and in the Hudson Valley indicates that progess is being made.
“The work in order to be responsive as you saw in the data is a complement of our partnerships between city between state between elected officials and our community stakeholders,” said Johanne Morne, director of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute.
The department of health held a summit on Wednesday in Albany to connect those involved in combating the epidemic with new information and resources. Morne says that working with communities and identifying needs, as well as understanding social and structural challenges and barriers for different communities, is a major part of their work.
“It’s our responsibility, as I talked about, for us to look for those opportunities not only to provide access to care, but to be sure we create environments that are welcoming and responsive to the people who most need access to prevention and healthcare support,” said Morne.
In the Hudson Valley, providing that access to care falls to many organizations, including Hudson Valley Community Services. In the mid-Hudson region, the trends for new HIV infections are hopeful.
“The news for HIV infections in the Hudson Valley is that the rate of infection is finally going down,” said J. Dewey, public relations & resource enhancement director for Hudson Valley Community Services.”
Thanks to reporter Orie Givens for reaching out to us.
In case you missed this week’s big news from Albany, Gov. Cuomo announced that estimates of new HIV infections for 2014 show a decrease of 41% from 2006. Estimated new HIV infections were fewer than 2,500 for the first time. The estimated HIV incidence rate (that is, the rate of people living with HIV, per 10,000 residents) fell 43% since 2006.
New estimates also report that 123,000 New Yorkers live with HIV, as of the end of 2014. About 10,000 do not yet know they are HIV-positive (8%). While this is good news overall, the report also estimates that only 62% of HIVers are virally suppressed (they have an undetectable viral load) and are, theoretically, incapable of infecting others. NYS would like to increase this percentage while continuing to decrease new infections to less than 750 per year by 2020.
Gov. Cuomo also announced an additional $4 million in funding to spread awareness of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). The NYS Department of Health unveiled new videos to educate the public about PrEP and a new website, PrEPforSex.org.
HVCS’ Board of Directors is pleased to announce a new slate of officers, including a new Board President. Andrew S. Evans, Jr. took the helm after former chair Paul Callagy decided to step down. “HVCS’ Board is in a terrific place,” Paul said during his resignation speech. “We have a new, energized membership, and it’s time for some new leadership.” Paul served on the Board for eighteen years and was President for over fifteen years.
Andrew Evans works for the Dutchess County Department of Health. He joined the Board in 2012, and he lives in Beacon. The other newly-elected officers include Vice President Michael J. Hall, a Milton resident and a professor at Dutchess Community College. Aretha Thompson was elected as Secretary; she is a manager at Citizens Bank and lives in Beacon. Another Beacon resident, Andrew Bell, was elected as Treasurer. He works as a financial consultant for Global Employment Solutions/IBM.
Congratulations to the new Board officers, and we send our sincerest appreciation and gratitude to Paul Callagy for so many years of dedicated service.
While we’d much rather talk about new programs and services, sometimes we must share unfortunate news. As of March 31, 2015, HVCS will no longer offer trainings and webinars as a part of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute HIV Training and Education Program. It’s been a pleasure serving the Hudson Valley human service provider community and everyone in the field of HIV/STI and Viral Hepatitis case management and prevention.
Going forward, Cicatelli Associates, Inc., based in Manhattan, will provide New York State AIDS Institute trainings for this region. Course listings and information can be found on The Department of Health website www.hivtrainingny.org, at the Cicatelli Associates, Inc. website www.caiglobal.org , or by telephone at 212-594-7741.
As per our privacy policy, HVCS will not share trainees’ contact information with Cicatelli Associates, Inc., so we encourage those interested in future trainings to reach out to them.
We hope that those who joined us for trainings will continue to partner with and make referrals to HVCS’ array of programs and services as needed. Our staff are always ready to assist service providers and their clients and patients with any necessary services. Watch for future e-mail notifications about HVCS’ programs and special events; you may unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks to those who came to our trainings for being wonderful training center participants over the years, and we wish you all the best to you and the people you serve.
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If you had a serious illness, how much would you want to know about it?
Dr. Rachel A. Freedman, an oncologist who specializes in breast cancer at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said she noticed a few years ago that many patients who were referred to her had little understanding of their disease or its treatment.
There was hardly any published information on what patients knew about their own cancers, so Dr. Freedman and some colleagues decided to conduct a study. They asked 500 women four questions: Did they know the stage of their tumor, the grade (an indicator of how aggressive a cancer is), and whether it was fed by estrogen or a growth factor called HER-2?
“Nobody’s ever looked at this before, and it’s a simple set of questions,” she said.
The researchers compared the women’s answers with their medical records. The results, published in January in the journal Cancer, showed that a little more than half of the women knew their cancer’s stage and its estrogen and HER-2 status. Only 20 percent knew the grade. Blacks and Hispanics tended to know less than whites.
The study did not determine why the patients knew so little. “It’s hard to know if doctors aren’t discussing it, or if patients aren’t hearing it,” Dr. Freedman said.
Having the information can matter, because many breast cancers are curable if women stick with their treatment, she said. If patients do not know how important treatment is, they may be more likely to quit, particularly if side effects are harsh.
But there is a world of difference between hearing about treatments that can save your life and hearing that they have failed. When cancer is advanced and people fear that death is looming, they are more likely to prefer being spared the details, Dr. Freedman said.
Still, she added, even among the sickest, “I think most patients do want to know.”
Recognizing that aggressive therapy no longer holds promise allows some patients to switch to treatments aimed at keeping them comfortable.
But people who have been dealt a bad hand have different ways of playing it.
Stuart Scott, the ESPN anchor who died of cancer in January, said a year ago that he did not know his prognosis.
“I never ask what stage I’m in,” he said in an interview with TheNew York Times. “I haven’t wanted to know. It won’t change anything to me. All I know is that it would cause more worry and a higher degree of freakout. Stage 1, 2 or 8, it doesn’t matter. I’m trying to fight it the best I can.”
Medical schools have tried harder to train doctors to deliver bad news without crushing the patient. But a recent study suggests that even the kindest manner may not soften the blow as much as expected.
At the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, researchers showed 100 patients with advanced cancer videos of two doctors speaking separately to a sad-looking woman with late-stage cancer who asked if there was some new chemotherapy that would help her.
The doctors and patient were actors, and the videos were crafted to insure that the doctors’ tone, facial expressions, manner and body language were warm and identical. The only difference was the doctors’ message — one was more optimistic than the other.
In one video, the doctor told the patient that no more chemo was possible “right now,” but that if she started feeling a little better, “we can find something for you.”
In the other video, the doctor said no more chemo was possible, and “there is no serious chance of curing your cancer.”
The patients were asked to rate how compassionate and trustworthy the doctors were. The one who offered the more optimistic message scored higher. The findings were published in February in JAMA Oncology.
“What we wanted to test here was, would just the message itself cause you to see me as more or less compassionate?” said Dr. Eduardo Bruera, the senior author of the study and chairman of palliative care and rehabilitation medicine at MD Anderson. “We had a feeling that the ‘shooting the messenger’ idea was present.”
He said medical students are taught that if they are empathetic and use the right body language, patients will see them as compassionate.
“We thought the appropriate methodology might protect us like a shield,” Dr. Bruera said. “Unfortunately, the message itself has some effect.”
It’s not surprising that people don’t like bad news, though the reaction does not mean that patients don’t want the truth. Eighty percent do want to know, he said.
Does it matter if this discussion puts some distance between doctor and patient? Dr. Bruera said he suspected that doctors felt the chill and were distressed about having to provide bad news, and that this might be contributing to high rates of burnout in his specialty.
More studies are being planned, he said, in hopes of finding ways to tell the truth that will be less painful to both doctors and patients.
A version of this article appears in print on March 17, 2015, on page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: What Patients Prefer to Know.
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It can be tough for Medicaid clients with serious, ongoing medical issues to navigate between medical providers, government benefits, and social support services. That’s where the Health Home program comes in. An HVCS care manager coordinates all available services as part of an overall care plan with the goal of better health and quality of life, and fewer unnecessary trips to the emergency room or hospitalizations each year.
We’ve already expanded our care managers’ services beyond HIV/AIDS, and as of this month we’re able to help even more clients: we just received word that New York State has expanded the list of qualified medical conditions. The list of qualified diseases now includes chronic pain, cancers and liver issues, plus a lot more.
HVCS has been expanding its staff to serve more clients, and we’re taking the initiative to make more medical providers aware of our services. We’re continuing to build collaborative relationships with a wide network of providers to ensure all our clients get the care and services they need. Autumn truly is a season of change here at HVCS!
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As of February 1, 2019, our Project Reach Out mobile harm reduction units will also be offering free screenings for chlamydia and gonorrhea. The PRO staff, who travel in vans to areas of high need throughout the Hudson Valley, work primarily with people who are homeless or in unstable housing, and help them access the services they need to reduce the harm of drug use and their risk for HIV, Hepatitis C and STDs.
