FEATURED NEWS

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

As we enter our 31st year of providing training and technical assistance services, I find myself inspired by the hard work, ingenuity, and tireless efforts of those organizations and individuals whom CAI has the privilege of working with in our shared commitment to improving the health and welfare of individuals, families, communities and society, with a particular focus on the vulnerable and disenfranchised. While this new decade certainly holds many challenges ahead, I look forward to meeting them head-on, and while doing so, continuing to raise the bar and press forward to make this world safer, healthier, and more socially-just for all.

I wish you and yours a wonderful and prosperous 2010.

Barbara Cicatelli
President

NATIONAL NEWS
 

CAI Receives Avon Foundation’s 2009 Medical Advancement in Breast Cancer Award

On October 27, the Avon Foundation held its ninth annual Women Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan to honor exceptional women and men for their efforts fighting breast cancer and domestic violence. The Avon Foundation presented Barbara Cicatelli and Kathryn Gates-Ferris with the 2009 Medical Advancement in Breast Cancer Award in recognition of CAI's invaluable contributions to the fight against breast cancer and for leadership in providing hundreds of thousands of women throughout the country with access to early detection. The award and recognition comes on the 10th Anniversary of community outreach and education through the Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund, which is managed by CAI.

"Avon and Cicatelli Associates share a common mission to improve women's lives. We are honored to have had such a successful partnership with the Avon Foundation for Women for the last decade,” Gates-Ferris said upon accepting the award. “We want to thank Avon and the hundreds of community-based organizations that have worked so hard with us to provide access to care for millions of women who would never have had a mammogram without this program."

The Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund (AFBCF) was created by Avon to reach women in need of breast cancer screening and treatment services. Through the AFBCF, financial support is made available to community-based programs providing education and outreach to medically underserved women, including low-income, older, and minority women. Since 2000, CAI has overseen the distribution of almost $55 million in AFBCF grants to community-based, non-profit breast cancer health programs. As a result of outreach and education provided through the AFBCF, nearly one million mammograms and/or clinical breast exams have been facilitated and more than 15 million people have increased their breast cancer awareness.
 

CAI Hosts Open House at New Office in Albany, New York

On November 11, CAI held an open house at its new office in Albany, New York. The opening of the Albany office is an outgrowth of CAI’s new role as the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Bureau of Supplemental Nutrition Statewide WIC Training Center (contract awarded in 2009). Several colleagues from health and social service agencies in the surrounding area, including NYSDOH AIDS Institute, Bureau of Women’s Health and Tobacco Control Program, and the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), attended the successful event. CAI administrators and staff were on hand to welcome visitors and provide tours of the facilities.

Newly renovated, the CAI Albany Office has two large training rooms, a conference room, offices, reception area, and kitchen facility. It is centrally located and easily accessible, just off Wolf Road at 2 Winners Circle, and there is ample parking and multiple hotels and eateries in close proximity. For more information on renting training and meeting rooms, please contact Esad Krcic at esad@cicatelli.org or 212.594.7741, x272.

Region II Family Planning Training Center Co-Sponsors Adolescent Health Institute 2009

CAI co-sponsored the eleventh annual Adolescent Health Institute (AHI): Exploring the Challenges Facing Youth Today. The conference, held on November 13 in East Windsor, NJ, was a collaborative effort between CAI and the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. The conference attracted 133 attendees including family planning staff, school nurses, and school social workers from throughout New Jersey and the metropolitan New York area.

AHI provided attendees the opportunity to network with their peers while focusing on new information and resources as they relate to the many issues facing youth. Topics presented in the 2009 conference included: Anxiety in Adolescence; Domestic Violence Exposure; Sexually Transmitted Infections (HIV, HPV, and Chlamydia); Sexual Violence; and Youth Resiliency.

CAI Provides First-Ever New York State WIC Program Managers’ Retreat

As the newly funded New York State WIC (Women, Infants, Children) Training Center, CAI had the pleasure of developing and providing the first-ever statewide retreat for management staff of the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)-funded WIC programs.

The retreat, which took place from October 5-7 in Albany, marked the first opportunity that NYS WIC program leaders, coordinators, and site managers have had to come together as a single group to discuss topics relevant to the provision of WIC services in New York.

CAI developed the content of the retreat based on input from NYS WIC Association representatives and the results of a needs assessment and interest survey completed by WIC managers. Through a series of general sessions and small group discussions, coordinators learned about change management theory, learning collaborative, situational leadership and communication, and gained important tools for creative problem solving.

To learn more about the NYSDOH WIC Training Center, visit www.cicatelli.org/WICTC/default.htm.

CAI Atlanta Supports Georgia in Integrating Peer/Consumer Advocates into Multidisciplinary Healthcare Teams

CAI Atlanta, the Center for Capacity Development, continues to provide training and technical assistance to six health districts in Georgia that have hired and integrated Peer/Consumer Advocates as essential members of their multidisciplinary teams. For two years, the Peer/Consumer Advocates have been working in clinic sites to assist in providing HIV/AIDS care services to PLWHA. During the second training year, from July 2008 to September 2009, CAI focused on reviewing the five essential tasks of Peer/Consumer Advocates as members of the multidisciplinary teams: Enhanced Outreach; Navigation; Patient Education; Adherence Support; and Advocacy.

During the first on-site training of the project year, CAI taught attendees how to maintain personal and professional boundaries with clients and healthcare team members while performing these five essential tasks. CAI delivered a second two-day on-site training that covered the different stages that clients may experience in making decisions about their health behaviors. The training also provided Peer/Consumer Advocates with several strategies that can be used to work with clients in each of the respective stages, including motivational interviewing concepts that can help counter a client’s ambivalence.

CAI is pleased to support the State of Georgia's goal to enhance services to PLWHA by integrating Peer/Consumer Advocates into multidisciplinary healthcare teams. To learn more about the CAI Atlanta office, visit www.cicatelli.org/CCD/.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

CAI Studying HIV Seroprevalence and Risk Behavior in the Belize Defense Force

CAI’s Research and Evaluation division is currently conducting a study on HIV seroprevalence and risk behavior in the Belize Defense Force. Supported by the United States Department of Defense HIV/AIDS Program, the study uses a protocol developed by CAI’s Senior Research Scientist and principal investigator on the project, Mike Anastario, Ph.D. This will be the first study to provide the Belize Defense Force with a representative estimate of HIV infection, risk behaviors, and correlates of risk behavior.

All study subjects are tested for HIV infection before completing a behavioral questionnaire that is administered using audio-computed assisted interviews on computers. As part of the overall study, in-depth qualitative interviews are also being conducted to better inform HIV prevention programs with regard to soldiers’ nuanced experiences.

CAI’s Director of Evidence-Based Interventions, Gricel Arredondo, adapted existing training modules to be more in line with Belizean cultural standards before training medical staff in the Belize Defense Force on pre- and post-test counseling. Research Assistant Grace Dann also assisted with implementation of the study in the field.

“It is exciting to see this protocol working so well among military personnel in the field,” said Dr. Anastario. “The mixed methods protocol allows us to triangulate findings which will better inform prevention programs in the country.” CAI’s research and evaluation division will use the study protocol tested in Belize to develop future studies in militaries across the region.

 

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