HIV/AIDS Prevention

Vision Statement

A healthy community free of HIV and STDs.

Mission Statement

To work in partnership with the community, focusing on: prevention, treatment, surveillance and care; by providing the highest quality of HIV/STD services.

Core Values

Compassion | Diversity | Ethical | Integrity | Team Work

Community Services conducts outreach activities encompassing transmission and prevention information, peer and staff training, educational interventions and access to people living with HIV as presenters.

Basic Information about HIV and AIDS

• California Dept of Public Health Office of AIDS
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: HIV in the US

Persons with symptomatic HIV infection who are Medi-Cal eligible may qualify for services under the AIDS Medi-Cal Waiver Program. Services may include in-home health care, attendant, and/or homemaker services. Benefits counseling can also be provided, if requested.

For more information, please contact:
Public Health Services
1601 East Hazelton Ave.
Stockton, CA 95205
Phone: (209) 468-3820 | Fax: (209) 468-3495

HIV Surveillance Reporting Protocol

• Report positive results no later than 7 business days after receiving results from Lab.
• Complete all the pertinent information in the Adult HIV/AIDS Case Report Form CHPH 8641A (PDF)
  It is very important to include all demographic information including social security number, as well as race and risk factor.
• Please include a copy of the POSITIVE Lab results (antibody test, viral load, or CD4) with the report.
• Call San Joaquin County Public Health Services for information, assistance completing the report, or pick-up
  HIV Surveillance Coordinator
  Rosa Castillo-Cuellar | (209) 468-3475
• When mailing a completed report please use Traceable/Certified Mail Only.
  Mail your reports to:
  San Joaquin County Public Health Services
  1601 E. Hazelton Ave., Stockton, CA 95205
  Attn: Comm. Services/Rosa Castillo

DO NOT:

• Fax HIV reports
• Send reports by regular mail: Traceable/Certified Mail Only
• Email reports
• Use regular morbidity reporting forms

The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) helps ensure that people living with HIV and AIDS, who have no insurance, have access to medication.

Individuals are eligible for ADAP if they:

• A resident of California;
• HIV infected;
• 18 years of age or older;
• Have a valid prescription from a licensed California physician; and
• Lack private insurance that covers the medications

Once you complete your enrollment into ADAP, your HIV medications will be accessible through participating ADAP pharmacies. Currently, 185 drugs are available through ADAP.

For more information, please contact:
Public Health Services
1601 East Hazelton Ave.
Stockton, CA 95205
Phone: (209) 468-3820 | Fax: (209) 468-3495

Am I at risk for HIV and AIDS?

• Have you injected drugs or steroids or shared equipment (such as needles, syringes, cotton, water) with others?
• Have you had unprotected vaginal, anal, or oral sex with men who have sex with men, multiple partners, or anonymous partners?
• Have you exchanged sex for drugs or money?
• Have you been diagnosed with or treated for hepatitis, tuberculosis (TB), or a sexually transmitted disease (STD), like syphilis?
• Have you received a blood transfusion or clotting factor between 1978 and 1985?
• Have you had sex with someone whose history of risk-taking behavior is unknown to you or they may have had many sex partners?
• Have you had unprotected sex with someone who would answer yes to any of the above questions?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you may be at risk for HIV and AIDS and should be tested. HIV can be transmitted through five human body fluids: blood, semen, pre-ejaculate (pre-cum), vaginal fluids (including cervical secretions), and breast milk. If you participate in behaviors that put you in contact with these fluids, then your chances of being infected have increased.

HIV Counseling Services

Voluntary counseling, testing, and referral programs provide people an opportunity to learn their current HIV status, receive counseling about any behavioral changes needed to avoid infection or infecting others, and receive information and referrals to additional prevention programs, medical care or other services.

• Confidential HIV testing means you give your name when getting tested. Only medical personnel or state health departments have access to the test results. You must provide written permission before this information can be revealed to others.
• Anonymous HIV testing means that we will not ask you for your name at any time during the counseling and testing experience. Instead, test subjects receive a unique number that corresponds to their specimen and test result. We do not report the names of people who test anonymously - even if they test HIV-positive - to anyone, and we do not give you anything in writing about your test result.

* If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, counseling and testing is even more important. If a woman is infected with HIV, medical therapies are available to lower the chance of passing HIV to the infant before, during, or after birth.

OraQuick Rapid Testing offers patients pain-free HIV testing without the need for blood or needles and provides results in 20 minutes.

The series of steps a person with HIV takes from initial diagnosis through their successful treatment with HIV medication.

The goal of HCP is to serve uninsured and underinsured clients with HIV disease, who do not have access to primary care-related services and/or support services.

HCP fill gaps in care not covered by other sources of coverage.

List of Services:

• Case Management (Non-medical)
• Child Care Services
• Emergency Financial Assistance
• Health Education/Risk Reduction
• Housing Services
• Medical Transportation Services
• Outreach Services
• Treatment Adherence Counseling

Part of the HIV Care Program

The Linkage to Care program works to connect HIV-positive individuals to medical care. The program assists HIV-positive individuals who are newly diagnosed or who are not currently accessing HIV/AIDS care by providing them with short-term, intensive support in engaging with an HIV care provider.

Who is eligible for Linkage to Care?

Any person currently residing in San Joaquin County who meets at least one of the criteria outlined below is eligible to receive L2C services:

• Newly diagnosed as HIV-positive
• HIV-positive and pregnant

What kind of support does Linkage to Care provide?

• HIV/AIDS Medical Care
• Social Services
• Long-Term Medical Case Management
• Financial Support for Medical Care

For more information, please contact:
Public Health Services
1601 East Hazelton Ave.
Stockton, CA 95205
Phone: (209) 468-3820 | Fax: (209) 468-3495

Part of the HIV Care Program

MAI focuses on improving HIV-related health outcomes to reduce existing racial and ethnic health disparities.

The goal of MAI is to increase access to, and engagement in, HIV/AIDS medical care for HIV-positive persons of color, including access to ADAP, Medi-Cal, or other appropriate programs providing HIV medications.

The goal is achieved by providing outreach and treatment education to HIV-infected persons of color who:

• Have never been in care.
• Know they are HIV positive.
• Have been lost to care.

For more information, please contact:
Public Health Services
1601 East Hazelton Ave.
Stockton, CA 95205
Phone: (209) 468-3820 | Fax: (209) 468-3495

Part of the HIV Care Program

HPP will provide short term housing assistance to HIV-positive clients through a partial rent subsidy program.

The partial rent subsidy program will consist of:

• Monthly rent subsidies up to 24 months, or as needed
• Individual written housing plans developed by case managers and clients that includes a strategy to identify, re-locate, and/or ensure the individual or family is moved to, or capable of maintaining, a stable long-term living arrangement

For more information, please contact:
Public Health Services
1601 East Hazelton Ave.
Stockton, CA 95205
Phone: (209) 468-3820 | Fax: (209) 468-3495

Case management programs help to provide medical and psychosocial services for persons with HIV disease. Those requesting Public Health Services case management services must have symptomatic HIV disease and be residents of San Joaquin County. A Ryan White case manager can also provide case management services to asymptomatic HIV positive individuals.

Services may include:

• In-Home Nursing
• Homemaker or Attendant Services
• Psychosocial Support
• Advocacy for Entitlement Programs
• Emergency Food and Housing Subsidies

For more information, please contact:
Public Health Services
1601 East Hazelton Ave.
Stockton, CA 95205
Phone: (209) 468-3820 | Fax: (209) 468-3495

The program provides assistance to HIV positive persons in notifying their sexual and/or needle sharing partners of possible exposure to HIV.

HIV Partner Services are always voluntary, client-centered, and confidential for both the person living with HIV and their partner(s).

About this Program

The HIV Partner Services Program provides three options for letting partners know they may have been exposed to HIV and/or STDs and provide linkages to testing and medical care.

• Anonymous Third Party: Specially trained local health department (LHD) staff notifies partners without disclosing any information about the original client.
• Dual Disclosure: The original client wants to disclose to partners him- or herself with the support of trained HIV Partner Services staff. Trained staff can provide immediate linkage to services once the original client has told the partner of their exposure.
• Self-Disclosure: The original client notifies his or her partner(s), after working with trained HIV Partner Services staff to develop a disclosure plan.

The Ryan White Care Act provides emergency and financial assistance to states, public and/or private nonprofit organizations which are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic, The intent of the Care Act is to provide coordination and operation of effective and cost-efficient systems for the delivery of essential services to individuals and families with HIV disease.

For more information, please contact:
Public Health Services
1601 East Hazelton Ave.
Stockton, CA 95205
Phone: (209) 468-3820 | Fax: (209) 468-3495