Ryan White 2012 Grantee Meeting

According to the United States 2010 Census, the Latino population is the largest minority group in the United States. The Northeast Valley, a Federally qualified health center located in California, provides ambulatory bio-medical and bio-psychosocial services to the growing Latino population. Northeast began to provide specific HIV- related services since 1991. Throughout the years, the team has recognized the difficulties in engaging and retaining older gay Latino men into the developed health system infrastructure. To determine barriers to care, the HIV clinic developed a qualitative study to explore the issues of disclosure and stigma faced by identified gay Latino men living with HIV/AIDS who are 50 years or older. Preliminary findings suggest that respondents experience fear of disclosure to family and friends due to the continued HIV/AIDS- related stigma in the Latino community.

Learning Objectives:

• The socioeconomic conditions of Latino men receiving HIV-related services in a Federally Qualified Health Center in LA County will be described.
• Describes the development of a survey instrument to explore challenges faced by Latino men to disclose HIV/AIDS status to friends and family members.
• This session will review accomplishments of the HIV/AIDS clinic in addressing the needs of the older gay Latino male population including improved health care retention, greater openess to discuss HIV/AIDS status, increased education about community resources, and greater awareness of various cultural values impacting health care outcomes.