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Date of Report: 03/01/2003
Source: Northwest AETC
The Northwest AIDS Education and Training Center (NW AETC) serves states that are home to over 325,000 Native Americans and 275 nationally recognized tribes. The NW AETC started the Tribal B.E.A.R (Building Effective AIDS Response) Project in 2001 to increase community support and clinical capacity for HIV services on reservations in Washington and Montana, expanding to Alaska, Idaho and Oregon (WAMIO region) in 2003. The acronym, B.E.A.R., is meaningful because the bear symbolizes medicine for many Native American tribes. By developing interdisciplinary HIV Response Teams within the tribal healthcare system, the B.E.A.R. Project implements a comprehensive care approach for Native people with HIV/AIDS who want to stay at home for their treatment and care.
Before developing the HIV Response Team training model, the NW AETC provided a series of regional and clinic-specific trainings in the WAMIO region for tribal healthcare providers. Needs assessments, Native consultants? and subcontractors? expertise, as well as these actual training experiences provided the insight and knowledge for the model. Lessons learned included the need to address the isolation, fear, and stigma felt by both providers and communities regarding HIV infection. The HIV Response Team training model develops a natural support group of providers within the clinic by providing an onsite series of interactive trainings. The NW AETC also developed a twenty-minute video entitled Community Support is Strong Medicine to raise community awareness about HIV/AIDS, community support for HIV care on the reservation, and to illustrate that HIV is a manageable disease. This 2002 award-winning video shares stories of three HIV-infected Northwestern Natives and their desire to receive care at home. Native people with HIV infection show the video as part of a presentation at community forums to alleviate fear and lack of knowledge or understanding about HIV transmission and care.
The Tribal B.E.A.R. Project has gained the trust and recognition of other tribes in the NW AETC region and national recognition through its distinctive acronym and logo, video, and presentations. A key principle in ensuring this success was integrating Native American participation in the Tribal B.E.A.R. Project. The NW AETC will modify and replicate the model in four new tribal clinics next year to build stronger bridges between traditional healers and western medicine physicians. The model is a long-term training commitment to provide HIV/AIDS education to Native American communities. For more information, contact Shelia St. Sebastian, at shelia@u.washington.edu.
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