AIDS in Indiana County

Project Three: Solutions

Issues and Solutions in Indiana County

Interview with Barbara Hoza, HIV/AIDS Nurse serving Southwestern Pennsylvania

Interview with Malinda Cowle, Head of Indiana County HIV Network

Interview with Head of HIV/AIDS for Indiana County at Community Care Management

Thankfully, many things are being done in Indiana County to do such things.  The American Red Cross in Indiana County is involved with HIV/AIDS education and prevention²⁸.  They publish a variety of brochures on HIV/AIDS, targeted specifically to different groups, such as teenagers, women, and people in the workplace²⁸.  These brochures are made available by the Indiana County Department of Human Services on over twenty of their brochure rack locations throughout the county²⁸.  The Red Cross also has programs where speakers instruct teenagers about HIV/AIDS, including risk-factors and means of prevention, even doing condom demonstrations when allowed²⁸.  The Indiana County HIV Network also works with prevention and education, trying to increase awareness of AIDS in Indiana County.  For World AIDS Day they placed red ribbons on the telephone poles in Indiana, and hung a banner over Philadelphia Street, the main street in town³⁰.  Every four years, the HIV Network brings in the AIDS Quilt, and displays it at IUP, open to the public, as a form of “benign education”³⁰. They also advertised National HIV Testing Day, although they only received two responses³⁰. 

There are also invaluable resources available to people living with HIV/AIDS in Indiana County that can link them to the medical and social services they require.  Community Care Management in Johnstown plays a large role in this, working to find adequate housing, proper medical care, and support groups for HIV-infected persons³¹.  They also provide gas vouchers and bus tokens for travel to medical treatment centers³¹.  Additionally, they provide counseling, health education, medical adherence education, client advocacy, and emergency assistance³¹.  They sometimes work with HIV+ patients to speak to groups about their experiences living with HIV/AIDS³¹.  Barbara Hoza is another invaluable resource as an AIDS nurse, providing numerous services to Southwestern Pennsylvanian communities and HIV-infected individuals. As the only HIV/AIDS nurse for Southwestern Pennsylvania, she works to provide prevention education, testing services, referrals, case management, and counseling²⁹_.  She also takes care of surveillance and reporting HIV and AIDS numbers to the CDC, as well as services to track down partners of newly-infected individuals, keeping confidentiality of course²⁹.  In addition, she works at the Ryan White AIDS Clinic in Johnstown (Cambria County), doing blood work and other services²⁹.  So, the services are there; Community Care Management is able to link HIV/AIDS-infected individuals to the services they need, but the head of HIV/AIDS in Indiana County asked, “Do they know about me?”³¹

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