Sexual Health
PreP
I developed one of the largest nurse-led PrEP health programs. We were one of the first large PrEP programs and had to learn many things along the way. We used RN-led care, point of care testing, and express STI testing to create an efficient high volume PrEP program.
I saw people not going on PrEP because they didn’t want to take a pill everyday but they were still acquiring HIV. PrEP 2-1-1 was a tool available globally but not in the USA. So we implemented the first PrEP 2-1-1 program in the USA to help us offer PrEP to more people and it worked. The biggest challenge was developing materials and coming up with a protocol because we had no one to model after.
Rapid HIv Treatment
San Francisco has a reputation for being the best in HIV care but some people still fall through the cracks. I didn’t want anyone living with HIV to not have access to treatment so we developed a rapid HIV treatment program that was able to help everyone regardless of insurance or residency. We also started seeing people out of care who needed to restart treatment. It’s a little trickier but that is the most important service you can offer a client. With both of these programs, clients walk out with all their labs done, medication in hand, and with a linkage and benefits plan in place.
Rapid HIV Treatment: Clients are offered HIV treatment at the time of diagnosis and can start within 1 hour.
Rapid Re Engagement: Clients who have fallen out of care are restarted on medications right away.
Sexual Health
Sexual health services are always in big demand. In order to meet the demand with limited resources, we have to come up with new ways of delivering care.
Much of the programming I developed focused on high-volume and high-efficiency delivery of sexual health services.
We created walk-in express STI testing to remove barriers to care. We leveraged RNs under scopes of practices to deliver much of the care in a more cost efficient model. We improved our anal health services through treatment of warts and fissures.
Sexual health is more than treating an STI. It’s a moment to see a person as a whole and offer meaningful client-centered services.
Gender care
There aren’t many spaces for trans communities even in San Francisco. They often get lumped in with cis-queer communities. It’s important to create an intentional space for trans and gender non-conforming communities and offer meaningful services.
I was able to create a space for transmasculine communities through improved vaginal and front hole health services and incorporating hormone health checks into routine STI testing to improve our reach to trans communities.
Even if your clinic is small or you don’t have many trans clients, I can help you add some meaningful services to improve your reach to trans communities.