Health van branches out, reaches out

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Staff brings wider range of services to Camden

By SHAWN RHEA
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
The sun had set and the downtown business district was deep into slumber when Johnny Brown and Aaliyah Adams headed out into the city's streets.

Brown does medical outreach and Adams is a phlebotomist on a neighborhood health van operated by the Camden Area Health Education Center, a free health care services agency located downtown.

For 15 years, the van's five-member staff has provided health screenings for illnesses such as HIV, hepatitis, diabetes, blood pressure and asthma, as well as bleach kits, pregnancy testing, condoms and health services referrals.

"We're trying to service people, especially the homeless, this time of year," said Brown, as he guided the van in the direction of North Camden.

The Camden Area Health Education Center receives funding from the Camden Housing Authority, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For many Camden residents, AHEC's van provides their first and sometimes only access to preventive health care.

It serves about 200 people each month, said AHEC van program coordinator Jose Quann. The van's medical crew serves a wide range of populations, including families, sex workers, the working uninsured, the unemployed and the substance addicted.

That hasn't always been the case.

In the van's early days, its mission was more narrowly focused: provide condoms, HIV testing and AIDS treatment referrals to Camden's sex workers and drug-addicted population.

In 2002, however, a grant from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services allowed the agency to expand its services to include preventive health screenings that are key to the broader Camden population.

"For years, all we did was (HIV) counseling and testing, so there was a stigma that if you came on the van, you had an HIV test," Quann said. "It was kind of known as `the AIDS van.' "

Overcoming that stigma involved "getting off the van, going out into the community and informing them about what we had to offer, that they could get blood pressure screening (or) a pregnancy test," Quann said.

Relationships matter

Many clients - such as 51-year-old Erika Moton, who has been unemployed and uninsured for more than a year - are longtime Camden residents who represent the stability and heart of Camden's struggling neighborhoods.

Others - such as 25-year-old Jim Ashman, who has been made homeless by a worsening drug addiction - are new clients looking for help in surviving the streets.

Ashman boarded the van in search of food, condoms and HIV testing on the evening Brown and Adams were making the rounds. His addiction to heroin landed him on the streets nearly a decade ago. He started using the drug with a former girlfriend when he was just 16.

"It was kind of a sexual thing, and before I knew it, I was addicted," Ashman said.

Though his youthful appearance has not become a victim of his addiction, Ashman found his life was all but destroyed by heroin use.

"It ruined a lot," Ashman said. "I dropped out of high school, lost jobs, lost apartments, lost cars. Everything you can think of - family, friends."

One of the few blessings Ashman feels he can claim is that he has avoided contracting HIV, in part, because he's been able to obtain condoms from the AHEC van.

He hesitated to use the van at first, but Ashman said growing dissatisfaction with his life and the inability to kick his addiction on his own drove him to finally board the van.

"I'm at my breaking point," said Ashman, as he allowed Adams to take his blood pressure and test for diabetes and HIV. He also was seeking a referral to a drug treatment program. He'd heard from friends that van workers could set him up with one.

"I need help, so if I see a hand sticking out to help, I'm going to take it," Ashman said.

Quann sees transient clients such as Ashman as the van's biggest challenge.

"It can be hard to follow up," he said.

Often, a new client will visit the van for an HIV test or drug treatment referral, but never return for the results or follow through on entering a detox program.

Current numbers show just 49 percent of people tested on the van for HIV return for their results. But that's still an improvement from the 20 percent who returned during the van's early days.

Among those who do return to receive their HIV test results, the van staff has a high level of success with getting them into care programs, Quann said.

"I'd say 90 percent of the people who come in for an HIV test and are positive, they follow up with treatment," said Quann, noting patients are referred to providers such as CamCare, Bergen Landing, Cooper Early Intervention Program and Garden State Infectious Disease in Voorhees for treatment.

Officials with those programs confirmed they do receive referrals from AHEC, but they were unable to give specific numbers.

Filling in the cracks

Moton said the van's health services provide peace of mind during a time when she is uninsured and concerned over her high blood pressure and risk for diabetes.

"I read about the van in the newspaper, and then I saw them on 9th (Street) and Central Avenue, and that's when I started using it. That was a year ago," Moton said.

Moton's mother developed diabetes when she was in her 50s, and both of Moton's parents died of heart attacks. Add in the stress of being unemployed, and Moton said she has numerous factors motivating her to use the van's services.

"I don't want to take any chances," she said. "I need to stay on top of this, and the easiest way to stay on top is this van. They're always around and convenient."

Moton visits the van every three weeks or so to have her blood pressure checked. She also does periodic diabetes screenings. Occasionally, she drags along neighbors, who also lack health coverage, to have screenings.

"That's a big thing. A lot of people don't have coverage," she said. "Even at the their workplace, it may not start for three months. Well, you can come here, and the neighborhood is comfortable with seeing (the van). They're real comfortable."

A momentary refuge

For 8-year-old Reynaldo Morales, the van is a place of fascination and treats. He boarded it one Thursday evening hoping to find a snack and watch medical worker Aaliyah Adams administer a test or two.

"So I can get warm," he said, explaining his presence on the van.

Soon, other children following Reynaldo's lead climbed onto the van in search of cookies and comfort.

"OK, it's getting too crowded in here," said outreach worker Brown, who exhausted his snack supply and handed out key chains to the children. "We gotta make room for people who need to be seen."

MORE INFORMATION

·  To get a van schedule, call (856) 963-2432 or go to www.camden-ahec.org.

Reach Shawn Rhea at (856) 486-2475 or srhea@courierpostonline.com