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The AIDS Holistic Services Program of The Akron City Health Department provides a continuum of service to over 300 persons living with HIV / AIDS and their traditional and non-traditional family members, inclusive of eighty-nine children. These services include case management, which utilizes a licensed social worker to facilitate appropriate services and to provide advocacy when needed; Counseling, either in agency or at the client's home, provided by Master level interns under the supervision of a Licensed Independent Social Worker, Food, given once monthly following USDA guidelines; Legal Services, under the supervision of an attorney for The City of Akron; Nursing Services, Buddy and Volunteer Services, Project Diversity, an African-American specific volunteer and case management service, and Transportation. The goal of these services is to empower the HIV/AIDS client to function independently for as long as possible. We strive to help the client meet their basic living needs as well as to help them access good medical care. By providing a strong community based system of services, we have reduced the amount of hospital time necessary because a client is homeless, hungry or without medication by 35%. We have also been able to reduce the number of persons dying in nursing homes by 70%. Although we have a small paid staff of five, we are able to provide quality care and professional programming because of our twelve interns and one-hundred-seventy-five volunteers. A wise use of professional volunteers has made us a cost effective addition to The Akron City Health Department, Offering five dollars worth of service for every one actually expended. (Robert Wood Johnson, consultant 1992) Our cost effectiveness, our quality improvement process which included yearly file audits and client satisfaction surveys, as well as our comprehensive, compassionate programming facilitated four members of our staff winning the Outstanding AIDS Service Award. The program itself has won the Cleveland Diocese Bishop LeBlond Award for outstanding and original Social Services. All of our services are free. http://www.rainbow-akron.com/ahsp/ |
