Waterbury Hospital Infectious Disease Clinic expands its peer program
Located in Waterbury CT, the Infectious Disease Clinic at Waterbury Hospital serves a growing number of HIV patients including Latino, African American, white, men who have sex with men, heterosexual male, female, and transgender populations. The clinic has 3 board-certified infectious disease physicians specializing in HIV care, and a multidisciplinary team consisting of area case managers, consumer advisory board members, a nutritionist, social workers, a medication adherence specialist, an on-site psychiatrist, and suboxone program staff. (Suboxone treatment is used in the management of opioid dependence.)
We are serving a large group of people, and we want to provide the best care. Having peers help us to make sure patients keep appointments and get their labs done will assist us in achieving that goal.
The clinic has offered patients support services for several years, including an HIV self-management program and several support groups. Since 2005, a peer educator (Beverly Leach, view profile) has provided orientation, health care system navigation and individual emotional and practical support to patients. Building on this strong tradition of consumer involvement, last year the clinic decided to expand its peer program.
“We wanted to continue our move toward a patient-centered chronic care model where patients and providers collaborate on establishing goals for patient self-care, yet the number of patients keeps growing,“ said Marcie Brainerd, Peer Program Coordinator. “We have over 400 patients currently. With only Beverly and myself, we didn’t have the staff to do some of the things we wanted to do to promote self-management. “
“We are serving a large group of people, and we want to provide the best care,” added Infectious Disease Clinic Office Manager Bonnie Gemino. “Having peers help us to make sure patients keep appointments and get their labs done will assist us in achieving that goal. Plus the doctors working with new patients have expressed a need for somebody who can say to those patients ‘I know what you are going through,’ and really mean it.”
About the expanded program
The clinic hired four peers in May 2009, all of whom had participated in PACT training the previous September. Each peer has a specific role at the clinic based on his or her strength and comfort level. In addition to providing new patient orientation and one-on-one emotional and practical support to patients, individual peers will serve as photography group coordinator, substance abuse group co-facilitator, or self-management program co-facilitator. Marcie will provide administrative supervision and Beverly will offer supportive supervision to the peer team. Both women attended a PACT-sponsored supervision training to prepare themselves for their new roles.
The doctors working with new patients have expressed a need for somebody who can say to those patients ‘I know what you are going through,’ and really mean it.
The expanded program enjoys tremendous buy-in from the rest of the organization. “Everyone here is on board,” said Marcie. “Working with Beverly has made them very receptive to the idea. All the doctors and staff are in agreement that it would be a great benefit to our patients.”
