Job Listing: Client Advocate - Essex County, The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts

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Note: This is an excerpted job description. Click this link to read the whole thing.

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Organization Information: Founded in 1983, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc. (AAC), is New England’s first and largest AIDS service organization. AAC provides services for men, women and children living with AIDS and HIV; educates the public and health professionals about how to prevent HIV transmission in accordance with harm reduction principles; and advocates for fair and effective AIDS policy at the city, state and federal levels. AAC also provides targeted outreach to those most vulnerable to HIV infection including men who have sex with men, injection drug users, black women, transgender women, and homeless youth. Free and confidential rapid HIV testing and counseling and clean needle exchange are also available.

Job Description: 

The Client Advocate would provide services and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Responsibilities Include:

  • Provide intensive office- and home-based case management and housing search services for up to 50 clients in Essex County. Conduct assessments and reassessments and develop client centered service plans based on assessed needs and transfer clients to stabilization services, as applicable.
  • Provide clients with easily accessible and low-threshold services that operate within the harm reduction framework and assist clients in overcoming other barriers to service delivery and health care access. This includes assisting clients with accessing support services on a walk-in, triage, and as-needed basis.
  • Work as part of an integrated team to assist clients in accessing services offered by all AAC programs. Facilitate access to resources that will assist clients in optimizing health outcome and moving towards self- sufficiency, including medical, housing, financial, mental health, substance use, sexual health, legal, vocational and educational services.
  • Develop a wide-ranging resource network for the people living with HIV in Essex County. Provide coordination, linkage and follow-up with existing service programs to maximize access to services, especially for those that are experiencing homelessness substance users, recent immigrants and/or people of color.
  • Facilitate case coordination including communicating with other providers to improve access to care and reduce duplication of services and maintain communication with relevant providers and family members, as needed and with client consent.
  • Provide assistance to clients during all phases of subsidized housing application process, including completing housing applications, accompanying clients to housing related appointments and appeals and following up on the status of submitted client applications.
  • Assist clients with all aspects of eviction prevention and accompany clients to court and appeal hearings, as needed.


Required Qualifications: 

  • BA or equivalent two years human services and/or case management experience.
  • Experience with the provision of HIV services.
  • Experience advocating for clients with government assistance agencies, housing authorities, private landlords or realtors preferred.
  • Experience in case management and with issues related to substance use, harm reduction, homelessness, mental health, and/or bilingual/bicultural and GLBT communities.
  • Must have reliable transportation to visit clients in their homes and/or in other community settings.

How To Apply: To apply, please send your resume and a cover letter with position specified to:

Professional Recruitment Bos WS
75 Amory St.
Boston, MA 02119

or email to resumes@aac.org

NEW: First over-the-counter home HIV test approved

The FDA has just released their approval for the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test, the first over-the-counter, self-administered HIV test kit to detect the presence of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2). HIV is the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).


The home kit has individuals collect an oral fluid sample by swabbing the upper and lower gums inside of their mouths, place that sample into a developer vial, and obtain test results within 20 to 40 minutes.



A positive result with this test does not mean that an individual is definitely infected with HIV, but rather that additional testing should be done in a medical setting to confirm the test result. Similarly, a negative test result does not mean that an individual is definitely not infected with HIV, particularly when exposure may have been within the previous three months. 


HOWEVER, the test has the potential to identify large numbers of previously undiagnosed HIV infections, especially if used by those unlikely to use standard screening methods.
 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection. About one in five are not aware they are infected. There are about 50,000 new HIV infections every year. Many of these new infections are transmitted from people who are unaware of their HIV status.


 
“Knowing your status is an important factor in the effort to prevent the spread of HIV,” said Karen Midthun, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “The availability of a home-use HIV test kit provides another option for individuals to get tested so that they can seek medical care, if appropriate.”


 
Clinical studies for self-testing have shown that the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test has an expected performance of 92 percent for test sensitivity, the percentage of results that will be positive when HIV is present. This means that one false negative result would be expected out of every 12 test results in HIV-infected individuals.


 
Clinical studies also have shown that the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test has an expected performance of 99.98 percent for test specificity, the percentage of results that will be negative when HIV is not present. This means that one false positive would be expected out of every 5,000 test results in uninfected individuals.


 
OraSure Technologies, the manufacturer of the OraQuick In-Home HIV Test will have a consumer support center that is available via phone and will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The center will be operational and available to educate users with information about HIV/AIDS, the proper method for administering the test and guidance on what to do once results have been obtained once the manufacturer makes the product available for sale to the public. Information about the consumer support center and contact information is included in the test kit.


 
OraSure Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Bethlehem, Pa. A version of this test for use by trained technicians in clinical settings was approved in 2004.

 
For more information: