Visiting Nurse Association to open new HIV/AIDS clinic

Visiting Nurse Association of Southeast Michigan's Ryan White HIV Program has recently expanded to work with the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn. The VNA is the largest non-profit to provide home health care and hospice services to Michigan residents, while ACCESS is a large provider of services to the Arab American community in the state.
VNA and ACCESS have partnered to provide HIV primary care to uninsured, underinsured and low-income individuals with HIV/AIDS. Through the partnership, persons with HIV/AIDS will be able to receive medical case management, mental health, home health services and primary care at no cost.
"The Arab American population is one of the dramatically increasing minorities in the state of Michigan, making this community the largest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East after Paris, France. In addition to other factors, cultural backgrounds influence individual's beliefs, behaviors and attitudes towards health and illness, especially HIV/AIDS," said Adnan Hammad, Ph.D., director of ACCESS Community Health and Research Center. "VNA's Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program will help the ACCESS Community Health and Research Center to provide holistic, culturally competent and language appropriate and comprehensive services to our at risk HIV/AIDS patients."
"We are excited to be able to establish a new gateway into HIV/AIDS medical care and support services to a traditionally underserved population in partnership with ACCESS," said David Perkins, VNA Ryan White HIV/AIDS program manager. "By providing this type of service within the Arab community, we believe that individuals who might not have sought services in traditional medical care settings will now be able to gain the medical care they need."
VNA also offers HIV/AIDS clinics in Berkley, Clinton Township and Royal Oak. Annually, VNA assists 600 individuals with HIV/AIDS through the provision of medically focused support services.