Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Receives $1 Million Federal Grant to Advance HIV/AIDS Care for Women and Children

Hartford, Conn– Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, has received a three-year $1,000,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help advance and expand comprehensive medical care for HIV-infected women, children, youth, and HIV-exposed infants living in Connecticut. The grant is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Ryan White Part D HIV/AIDS Program, which helps people who lack sufficient health care coverage or financial resources to manage HIV.

“By receiving this additional funding from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, more children living with HIV in our state whose families have a difficult time affording medical care will receive comprehensive HIV/AIDS care available at Connecticut Children’s primary care HIV/AIDS clinics in Hartford and have access to emerging treatments that are improving the lives of patients with HIV,” said Juan Salazar, MD, Physician in Chief, Connecticut Children’s and Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Dr. Salazar and a team of experts, are nationally recognized experts regarding the treatment of HIV/AIDS in children, and continue to advance the long-term care of patients through research. Our staff has presented treatment models developed over the years in our programs on local, state, national and international stages.

Comprehensive care provided at each clinic includes primary medical care, medical case management, behavioral health and nutritional services among other core medical services.  The program’s support services also address barriers to comprehensive care that often occur within this underserved population such as lack of transportation, food and other social determinants to health.

“Our success in continuing to do our work in an extremely competitive environment for securing grants is due to passion and commitment to answer the needs of the communities and populations we serve, said Danielle Warner, Family Support Services Director. “We consider ourselves servants first and foremost.  This grant allows us to continue the work.”

The HHS grant targets resources to communities that need the most help within the geographic areas of institutions that receive funds. The grant is designed to provide core medical and support services for woman, infants, children, and youth who are living with and affected by HIV: those newly diagnosed or newly identified persons living with HIV/AIDS who are new to medical care; previously diagnosed patients who have never been in care; and HIV/AIDS patients who are returning to care after more than a 12-month absence.

About Connecticut Children’s
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center is the only hospital in Connecticut dedicated exclusively to the care of children and is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best children’s hospitals in the nation. With a medical staff of more than 1,000, Connecticut Children’s provides comprehensive, world-class health care in more than 30 pediatric specialties and subspecialties. Connecticut Children’s Medical Center is a not-for-profit organization, which serves as the primary pediatric teaching hospital for the UConn School of Medicine, has a teaching partnership with the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University and is a research partner of The Jackson Laboratory. Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health is a national leader in community-based prevention and wellness programs.