The strategies included:

• Recruiting, training, and placing 6-8 Community Health Workers (CHWs) at clinical and community-based host sites across the EMA;
• Interconnecting with IPHI’s existing CHW initiatives in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and Prince George’s County, Maryland to create an integrated regional system;
• Concentrating CHWs in areas with unmet needs, unique barriers to care, and limited existing EIS resources;
• Creating a broad regional network of providers; and
• Integrating group-based psychosocial support and transportation services in strategic locations for key populations.

WeConnect CHWs were placed at the following sites across the EMA:

• MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.
• Us Helping Us in Washington, D.C.
• Prince George’s County Hospital – Glenridge Clinic (Dimensions Hospital System)
• Prince George’s County Health Department, Maryland
• Montgomery County Health Department, Maryland
• AIDS Response Effort serving Northwest Virginia and West Virginia
• Shenandoah Community Health in Martinsburg, West Virginia

In addition, psychosocial services through CHW-facilitated psychosocial support groups were offered at:

• La Clínica Del Pueblo, Washington D.C.
• Us Helping Us, Washington D.C.
• Alexandria Neighborhood Health Services, Virginia
• Fredericksburg Area HIV/AIDS Support Services, Virginia
• Shenandoah Community Health, West Virginia

Evaluation

IPHI evaluated these projects, and captured the process and client-level outcomes for these initiatives. By integrating this project into IPHI’s HIV linkage and retention in care activities, IPHI led a regional EIS system that included over 30 CHWs. The team covered nearly every jurisdiction in EMA.