Nashville CARES
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615-259-4866
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633 Thompson Lane
Nashville, TN 37204
Organization Details

Statements

Mission

Nashville CARES' MISSION is to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Middle Tennessee. We work to achieve this through education, advocacy and support for those at risk for or living with HIV.

Our VISION is a community where HIV infections are rare, and when they do occur, everyone with HIV/AIDS has access to the care, treatment and support to achieve optimal health and self-sufficiency without stigma or discrimination.

Background

Nashville CARES (Community AIDS Resources, Education and Services) has addressed the challenges of HIV/AIDS since it was founded in 1985, expanding and changing its programs to meet the growing and changing configurations of the epidemic in Middle Tennessee and the state as a whole. CARES provides a range of prevention and education services annually to 50,000 Middle Tennesseans. Through group workshops and individual counseling, CARES offers a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention, supporting decisions by giving sexually active individuals the skills to change risky behavior (including decisions to delay or suspend sexual activity). Four programs provide tailored prevention education annually to almost 30,000 African Americans and Hispanics, gay and bisexual men, people dealing with substance abuse issues, and people living with HIV. The agency distributes education and prevention materials at more than 20 sites throughout the community and consults on HIV issues. In 2020 CARES opened the My House Clinic a "one-stop" clinic that provides testing and linkage to PrEP treatment for at-risk uninfected individuals that can prevent their infection with HIV. CARES provides HIV counseling, testing and screening to help 10,000 individuals each year learn their status. Early Intervention Services (EIS) links those who test positive to medical care and social services. EIS also helps those who started but subsequently dropped out of care re-engage with treatment and remain consistently adherent.
Support Services include individual and group counseling, case management, emergency rent/utility assistance, a food pantry and home-delivered meals, emergency housing, transportation, practical support with daily tasks, outpatient substance abuse treatment, social activities and assistance with health insurance, medical care and prescriptions. The 3,400 clients (or 6,500 clients when statewide insurance assistance recipients are included) include African Americans, Caucasians and Hispanics; gay and heterosexual men and women; and children, adolescents and adults ranging into their seventies. Staff are deployed throughout the region to bring services to increase access to services, build regional community awareness and reduce HIV-related stigma. Satellite offices are located in Clarksville and Murfreesboro. The My House LGBTQ wellness center opened in Nashville in 2017 in partnership with Street Works.

Impact

Strategic goal for five-year period ending in 2020: By 2020, the number of HIV infections reported annually for the Nashville MSA will be reduced by 50% (from 200 to 100) and the agency's average client viral load will be decreased by 60% (from 13,500 to 5,300) with 92% of clients achieving optimal viral suppression (i.e., control of the amount of virus in the blood that contributes to long-term survival).Each agency EDUCATION program improves the knowledge, skills, motivation and self-efficacy of adults and young people to avoid or change behaviors that put them at risk for HIV infection and to sustain those changes over time. The long-term result of such behavioral change is a reduction in new HIV infections and a slowing of the spread of HIV in our community. Education also provides info about and support for newer 'biomedical' prevention strategies like PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) which reduces risk of infection by more than 95%. HIV TESTING (CTS) helps identify those HIV-infected individuals who do not know their status (estimated to be 14% of the total HIV population). EARLY INTERVENTION (EIS) links these individuals to HIV primary care and provides intensive support to those with risk factors for relapse to promote treatment adherence.Each SERVICE helps clients meet basic needs, alleviate identified barriers to consistent engagement in care and treatment, improve their management of HIV disease and achieve HIV 'viral suppression'. The long-term results are improved health and longevity for the individual with HIV/AIDS and more cost-effective care for the community. Viral suppression also makes transmission of HIV to others almost impossible (according to four+ years of research). Accomplishments in 2017-18: 1. Implementation of Year 3 objectives in agency strategic plan 2. Complete integration of IAMSTRONG treatment adherence as 'standard of care and develop protocol for introducing trauma-informed care throughout service delivery. 3.First full year of operation for the My House health and wellness center with Neighborhood Health and Street Works. 4. First full year of statewide operation of dental assistance program. 5.Full implementation of program for education, referral and ongoing adherence support for PrEP (treatment that prevents HIV infection) to at-risk HIV-negative individuals. 6. Mobilization of Nashville political and public health leadership to create a community plan to 'End the HIV/AIDS Epidemic.'Goals for 2019: 1. Realignment of services delivery and agency culture along the principles of trauma-informed care and racial/cultural equity. 2. Continued operation/expansion of My House center to address HIV and other health disparities among gay/bisexual men and especially African American gay/bisexual men. 3. Dissemination of the Nashville 'End the Epidemic' plan and planning process to sister cities in Tennessee. 4. Realignment and strengthening of our statewide advocacy network through creation of local chapters. 2019 will also see a transition in agency leadership with the retirement of CEO Joseph Interrante and selection of a new CEO through an extensive process of stakeholder engagement begun in the second half of 2018. Consistent with our strategic plan, CARES is integrating the newest developments in HIV prevention and treatment into its programs: adding PrEP, which reduces risk of infection by more than 95%, as a central part of HIV prevention programming; and making HIV viral suppression a centerpiece of services delivery for people living with HIV. Together these contribute to our strategic goal of reducing new HIV infections by 50% over 5 years.

Needs

1. Increased and diversified resources to meet increased needs for education and services, to strengthen fiscal stability and to support new initiatives. 2. Building staffing and infrastructure to manage increasing complex agency finances, especially with regard to direct and indirect government funding. 3. Expanded agency marketing for improved community awareness about the continuing challenges of HIV/AIDS and agency visibility. 4. Partnerships to address cost-effectively the disproportionate impact of HIV on African Americans, Hispanics and gay/bisexual men and improve health equity with regard to HIV/AIDS.

CEO Statement

Dramatic advances in prevention and treatment related to HIV/AIDS have provided us with the tools to end the AIDS epidemic in Middle Tennessee, our state and nation. Most important, research in the past two years has shown that in addition to helping people with HIV live longer and healthier lives, anti-retroviral HIV treatment that produces an undetectable viral load can reduce HIV transmission nearly to zero. Combined with proven prevention strategies for HIV-negative people at high risk for infection, we can begin to reverse the epidemic and produce the conditions for an AIDS-free generation. For over 35 years, Nashville CARES has pursued this vision, elaborating on the strategies needed to end HIV/AIDS. Our experience has shown us that we cannot simply treat our way out of this epidemic; advances in clinical care must be married to community-based support so that the promises of HIV treatment are available to all those most vulnerable to HIV infection regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, or sexual orientation. It also requires us to help those no longer dying from AIDS to optimize their health and (re)build productive lives by managing their medical and treatment needs successfully without interference from basic survival concerns. To that end, the agency created a strategic plan that lays out the path toward realization of this vision of an AIDS-free generation. The plan was the culmination of almost eighteen months of dialogue and thought about why and how CARES does its work. It is both a product of and agent for a new culture of service at Nashville CARES that seeks to change the paradigm for our community response to HIV/AIDS in Middle Tennessee. The paradigm shift is captured in our recast mission to end the HIV/AID epidemic in Middle Tennessee, wherein the development of a coordinated community response to HIV/AIDS (our previous mission) is now viewed as means toward that greater end.


Service Categories

Primary Category: Diseases, Disorders & Medical Disciplines  - AIDS 
Secondary Category: Human Services  - Human Services NEC 
Tertiary Category: Health Care  - Public Health 

Areas Served

Two programs serve individuals living with HIV/AIDS throughout Tennessee: a dental assistance program that pays for dental and other oral health needs; and a health insurance program that pays for insurance premiums and medical and prescription deductibles and co-pays.

TN - Cannon
TN - Cheatham
TN - Davidson
TN - Dickson
TN - Hickman
TN - Houston
TN - Humphreys
TN - Macon
TN - Montgomery
TN - Robertson
TN - Rutherford
TN - Smith
TN - Stewart
TN - Sumner
TN - Trousdale
TN - Williamson
TN - Wilson