This article was written and paid for by Care Resource.
On Aug. 23, Care Resource medical providers and staff participated in a roundtable to engage in meaningful discussion about “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America,” a major goal of the president of the United States and his administration.
Notable attendees included U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Florida, and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with other federal, state and local officials and representatives of community-based organizations and the private sector.
This roundtable afforded the opportunity to share best practices, address challenges, make recommendations and implement the initiative. At the end of the session, Redfield commented that this is the time to be “disruptively creative.”
Participants were invited to provide their feedback about:
• Successes that can be viewed as best practices.
• Challenges addressing HIV/AIDS to elevate to the CDC’s attention.
• Recommendations for CDC/HHS related to implementing the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, including thoughts about how funds from this initiative can best be spent in our community.
Resources from the CDC will be distributed for planning, the development of strategic plans and the refinement of community needs to further local ownership of the development processes, the consideration of broader environmental or systems factors, the integration and coordination of program initiatives between different stakeholders such as government and private sector partners.
Care Resource serves communities that otherwise confront financial, geographic, linguistic, cultural or other barriers to accessing health care. As a federally qualified health center, it provides comprehensive primary medical and preventive care, including medical, dental and behavioral health/substance abuse care, in addition to social and nutritional support services to all individuals in our community.