MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

In 1979, I started Cicatelli Associates Inc. with a belief that those offering services to communities in need deserved the same – if not greater – level of excellence in training and capacity building resources as I had witnessed in the corporate world. Today, 30 years later, CAI continues to make every effort possible to meet the needs and assist in improving the services of public sector health and human service providers, nationally and internationally.

Since CAI’s inception, I have been blessed with the best, brightest and most committed coworkers imaginable. The dedication and perseverance shown by our partners and those who have attended our programs – more than 90,000 of you – have never ceased to inspire and motivate us. Together we are able to confront challenging health issues and work to reduce health disparities, stigma and discrimination.

To all of you who have played a role in CAI’s growth, I extend my deepest gratitude. Together we are developing an organization that stays true to our vision and mission. We are fueled by everybody we work with in changing the world to be a kinder and better one; one that provides more opportunities for those with the greatest needs.
 

Barbara Cicatelli

President

NATIONAL NEWS

The Recruitment and Retention of HIV+ Women into Services: Consumer Provider Partnership for Care
Health care providers can have difficulty identifying, reaching, and retaining the most vulnerable HIV+ women in need of care, but consumers (HIV+ women who are successfully involved in their own health care) can help bridge this gap. Consumers often know how and where to find other HIV+ women who are not accessing services and can help agencies to better understand the reasons why.

The Consumer Provider Partnership for Care (CPCC) is one of two HRSA AIDS Bureau funded national projects to provide specialized training and technical assistance to Ryan White Part D funded grantees and delegates. The project seeks to improve: (1) the recruitment of hard to reach clients; (2) their retention in care; and (3) their adherence to treatment. The CPPC will provide HIV health care agencies with a framework for developing partnerships between their staff and HIV+ women consumers.

The CPCC will teach agencies and consumers how to establish and use consumer-provider partnerships to improve their reach of HIV+ women not receiving care, and improve the retention and adherence to care of HIV+ women in care. For the consumer-provider partnership to work effectively and improve access to and retention in services, both consumers and clinical staff need training and follow-up support on partnering together and using evidence-based techniques and public health strategies such as: social marketing; motivational interviewing; harm reduction; and adherence strategies.

These partnerships will also contribute to the provision of comprehensive, coordinated and culturally competent family centered HIV care that includes the active involvement of consumers in their own care.

For more information on this project, visit: www.cicatelli.org/HRSAConsumer
 

Enhancing the Delivery of Reproductive Health Services in the US Virgin Islands
 

CAI recently supported the US Virgin Islands in their efforts to reach out to private and public health care providers and raise awareness and build skills related to the provision of reproductive health care services.

CAI’s Office of Population Affairs Title X Family Planning Training Center for Region II and our Region II Infertility Prevention Project joined with the Region II STD/HIV Prevention Training Center in designing and delivering a week-long STD/HIV training in January of 2009. The goal of the training was to enhance providers’ skills and collaboration between USVI-based health professionals working in STD, HIV, family planning, private practice, and within primary and secondary schools.

A total of 250 participants attended the two training programs entitled, “Managing the Sexual Health of Your Patients: Screening, Treatment and Counseling” and “Educating and Counseling Youth on STDs & HIV.” Faculty from Columbia University, CAI, USVI Department of Health, Callen Lorde Community Health Center, and New York State STD/HIV Prevention Training Center (PTC) all helped to make this event a success.

Data was also collected from participants to assess current practice in the provision of reproductive health services. This data is in the process of being collated and analyzed and will be drawn upon to support the development of future follow-up and technical assistance activities that can support the integration of learning into practice at the clinical level.

Client-Level Data Readiness Assessment for Ryan White Part D Grantees
 

The HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau funded CAI in late 2008 to conduct a three-year process to assess the capacity of Ryan White Part D grantees to successfully collect and report client-level data required for various core medical and support services. These fields include socio-demographic and service utilization data that can be used to better plan, monitor and evaluate HIV-related services provided to Part D consumers.

As part of the new Ryan White Services Report (RSR), all Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program grantees and service providers are required to collect client level data for HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB). The RSR is a data collection and reporting system for information on programs and clients served, and it will eventually replace the Ryan White Data Report (RDR).

For the project, CAI will assess all 91 Part D grantees’ readiness to collect client-level data as required for the new RSR, identify gaps in readiness, and provide recommendations for technical assistance required. Nineteen agencies will be assessed in year one, including five onsite assessments. 

CAI will develop and test a readiness assessment tool based on a framework that examines four organizational domains: Organizational Infrastructure (Technology and Resources); Organizational Systems (Policies and Procedures); Organizational Staffing (Knowledge and Skills); and Organizational Culture (Leadership and Management). These domains emphasize the various areas in which an organization must prepare to make changes to satisfy requirements of the RSR.

Using baseline and follow-up assessment data, CAI will construct a longitudinal database that will inform the readiness assessment scoring system. We will conduct follow-up assessments with Part D grantees that completed a baseline readiness assessment to determine whether technical assistance recommendations were implemented, and if they were successful in submitting client-level data for the RSR.

As part of the readiness assessment tool development process, CAI conducted key informant interviews with select Part D grantees and are currently in the process of refining and piloting the assessment tool and will begin conducting assessments in April 2009.

For more on this project, visit: www.cicatelli.org/HRSAData.

Office of Population Affairs Title X Region IV Webinar
 

On February 10, 2009, CAI’s OPA Title X Regional Training Center for the Region IV project, which is coordinated out of the CAI Atlanta, Georgia office, sponsored a region-wide webinar titled, “Contraceptive Update for Family Planning Providers in the Eight States of DHHS Region IV.”

“Our objective for this training was to describe a variety of contraceptive methods and review updated recommendations for their use,” stated presenter Caroline Hewitt, MSN, NP and CAI Director of Clinical Education. More than 600 people registered for this 90-minute training and participated either individually or in groups.

At the end of the webinar, participants were able to ask questions on the methods described and on matching contraceptive users to appropriate methods. For more information on the Title X – Region IV – Regional Training Center for Family Planning, please visit our website at http://www.cicatelli.org/titlex/region4/

NYCDOHMH Agency-Wide Consulting Contract
 

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH) selected CAI to be one of three agencies designated to provide temporary consultant services to all of its divisions and bureaus. In the past, the process for securing consultant services for NYCDOHMH projects has been long and cumbersome, taking six months or more to complete.

Through this program, called the Agency-Wide Consulting Contract (AWCC), NYCDOHMH divisions and bureaus can now obtain consultant services in a matter of 3-4 weeks. The AWCC will provide CAI the opportunity to work with many different NYCDOHMH entities, helping to expand and grow our reach and services. NYCDOHMH bureaus and divisions that are interested in obtaining consultant services through the AWCC should contact their Health Support Services Liaison, who is the point of contact designated to develop and issue a task order brief to obtain services.

Center for Evidence Based Interventions
 

CAI’s Center for Evidence Based Interventions’ (CEBI) recent trainings and activities include providing a Social Network Strategy for HIV Counseling Testing and Referral Training of Trainers in South Carolina in February. The Social Network Strategy is designed to identify persons who are likely to be HIV+ and recruit them into HIV testing, counseling and other services.

The strategy is effective in reaching populations that aren’t reached by or don’t respond to traditional methods. CAI worked with CDC to design the training to help Health Departments become proficient in training their funded organizations on how to use the social network strategy for HIV counseling, testing and referral.

Also in February, in conjunction with the Harm Reduction Coalition, CEBI conducted a Safety Counts Training of Trainers in Florida. Safety Counts is an intervention designed to help active drug users reduce their risks related to HIV and Hepatitis. The comprehensive five-day training was designed to train Health Department and Capacity Building Assistance Staff. Comments were positive, with participants stating that the training gave them necessary skills to train the curriculum and left them with a deeper understanding of the intervention itself.

CEBI has also been serving as consultants to Public Health Solutions to revise and update the Street Smart training of facilitators and implementation manuals. The CEBI project was also involved in the development of curricula and Training of Trainers program for HIV Counseling, Testing, and Referral, Comprehensive Risk Counseling Services.

CEBI receives funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to serve as a national provider of Capacity-Building Assistance (CBA) for HIV Prevention Interventions and other Public Health Strategies. CBA includes training, ongoing technical assistance, curriculum and toolkit development, and other related activities. For more on this project, visit: www.cicatelli.org/CEBI.

Staten Island STOP Holds 2009 Spring Conference on Pregnancy and Smoking
 

On March 26, 2009, CAI's Staten Island STOP (Support to Overcome Puffing) program held a spring conference on pregnancy and smoking. At the conference participants learned about the 5A’s; were taught how to counsel the pregnant smoker; discussed tobacco cessation medications and their use during pregnancy; and learned about resources available to pregnant Staten Island residents. 

Ninety people attended the conference where SI STOP consultant Donna Long served as the master of ceremony. Assemblyman Lou Tobacco and American Cancer Society’s Alberta Brescia provided the opening remarks, which provided statistics and personal anecdotes related to tobacco cessation efforts on Staten Island.

Lowell C. Dale, MD, Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Tobacco Quitline, flew in from Minnesota to address the Staten Island-based doctors, nurses, registered dietitians, psychologists, social workers and various other medical professionals in attendance. Dr. Dale discussed the risks and benefits of using tobacco cessation medications in the pregnant tobacco user and reviewed withdrawal symptoms and the importance of appropriate use of medication. 

Cathy Melvin, PhD, MPH, from the Sheps Center for Health Services Research and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, provided a summary of evidence-based strategies that help pregnant women to quit smoking.  Meryl Perrotta, Coordinator of Smoke-Free Beginnings at Staten Island University Hospital, took the group through the 5A’s (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist and Arrange) and listed the Staten Island based resources available.        

SI STOP also used the event to introduce New York State’s newest campaign materials: “Your Patients are Listening” promotional stress grip ears. New York State Smokers’ Quitline materials were also made available.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Dominican Republic
CAI conducted a five-day training in Santo Domingo in February for paraprofessionals attached to NGOs in Region 5 and the border regions in Home-Based and Palliative Care. These home-based care workers will be responsible for visiting PLWHA in their homes to provide them with medical and clinical referrals, psychological support, social support, spiritual support, and prevention services. The home-based care workers are part of a multidisciplinary palliative care team that includes nurse supervisors, paraprofessionals, and clinic-based care professionals.

Dominican Republic

Gisselle Vasquez, MD, CAI Director of Home-Based and Palliative Care Public-Private Partnerships in the Dominican Republic, won the National Prize for Youth for her contribution to national health. This prize is the highest recognition awarded by the Dominican Republic through the Secretary of State for Youth. The award is given to Dominican youth and young adults between the ages of 15 and 35 years who show dedication to the sustainable development of the DR through dedication and cooperation to achieve important goals for the country.

El Salvador
CAI conducted a training in February 2009 for management staff of 15 NGOs that work with vulnerable populations in El Salvador. The training was designed to provide managers with skills in leadership to improve their ability to effectively direct their organizations. This training was part of an ongoing series of capacity building exercises funded by UNDP that are designed to provide civil society organizations with the increased ability to effectively manage their organizations and to design and implement effective programs that reach the populations most at risk for HIV infection in El Salvador

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