American Indian Community House Inc

Programs: Provided health promotion and disease prevention activities through case management and health education events for an ai/an community in nyc. Provided free health and fitness summer programs for our local american indian youth to prevent diabetes. Also recruited summer college/graduate students as interns to help lead the program to teach classes on nutrition, exercise, sports and healthy living. Addition of enrolment services for the nys health marketplace through the impmplentation of in-person assistor/navigator program, all health staff were trained as certified application counselors.

the aich hiv/aids program has four program sites across new york state, with each staffed by a community educator: new york (agency headquarters), akwesasne, syracuse (program headquarters), and buffalo. The program has two service components:multiple service agency (msa) componentthe community educator network targets american indians, alaska natives, and their partners who have, or are at high risk for hiv, stds, and hepatitis c. Services are provided to help individuals prevent/reduce their risk of transmission and acquiring of these, and include:prevention outreachinterventions delivered to individualsinterventions delivered to groupscommunity level interventions referral and follow-upnavigation and retentionhealth communication/public information community development initiative (cdi) componentthrough nalcha (the native american leadership commission on health and aids), we bring together native leaders and community members to generate broader support for reducing hiv, stds, hepatitis c, and related stigma in the native community. Activities include:policy update sessionsregional native leadership work groupscommunity mobilization eventsmsathe program started an early transition to high impact prevention, which includes a greater emphasis on reaching individuals with and at highest risk for hiv, stds, and hepatitis c. The transition included a significant amount of new training for the community educators, and expanding education efforts to include an increased emphasis on stds and hep c, and getting people at highest risk to testing and linking them to care. The various program sites facilitated new relationships with other native american service providers to reach out to more hig high risk natives, and cultivated the development of collaborative opportunities with non-native providers to reach hiv+ natives already in care. This included: evergreen health services (buffalo); friends of the night people (buffalo); oahiio - the native american independent living center (bufalo-niagara falls); the cny hiv care network (syracuse); acr health (syracuse); the tuscarora community health workers program; and onondaga nation family protective services. The program developed more native cultural activities as a part of its educational interventions to help native clients acknowledge the impact of trauma, build positive native identity, and include healing from trauma as a part of developing safe and healthy practices. The buffalo program site expanded its outreach on the tuscarora nation and at the seneca nation of indians cattaraugus and allegany reservations to begin recruiting high risk clients for interventions. The syracuse program site expanded participation of its native womens circle of wellness through new outreach to high risk urban native women in the city of syracuse. The new york program site was re-opened in may of 2014, after being shut down for four years due to budget cuts. Cdinalcha hosted a community leadership meeting in november, 2013 to address the rise in heroin/injection drug use in the akwesasne mohawk community, and identify first steps in developing community readiness for harm reduction activities. The various program sites hosted and co-hosted nine regional, community wide events (world aids day, national native hiv/aids awareness day, national hiv testing day) to promote awareness and mobilize native communities and leadership to increase their involvement in addressing hiv/stds/hep c in their respective communities. The program upgraded its annual newsletter, nalcha news, to include a greater focus on hiv related policy issues impacting the native communi

in-person assistors (ipa's) /navigators provide in-person enrollment assistance to individuals and families who apply for health insurance through new york states marketplace. Ipa/navigators remove barriers to the application process by providing assistance in community based settings during non-traditional hours such as evenings and weekends. The navigator program makes it easy to help individual consumers and families apply for affordable health coverage such as:qualified health plans (qhps) - licensed, commercial health plans that have been approved by the marketplace to provide comprehensive coverage, follow limits on out-of-pocket expenses (such as deductibles, co-payments, and out-of-pocket maximums) and meet other requirements. Advance premium tax credits - lowers the cost of monthly health insurance premiums. Cost sharing reductions - reduce out of pocket costs such as co-payments, deductibles and co-insurance. Medicaid and child health plus - publ public insurance programs that make insurance more affordable to low-income individuals and families and low to middle income children. There are specific provisions related to american indians and alaska natives in the affordable care act. Staff have been trained to assist ai/an's with these provisions and how to apply for exemptions. Through the ny state of health marketplace, members of federally recognized tribes may be eligible for special enrollment periods, a designated plan at the silver level, and other benefits, including cost-share reductions. In addition, our staff has travel to three local indian reservations (shinnecock, unkechaug and ramapough), to assist those community members with information regarding ai/an benefits and enrollment into qualified health plans. The program enrolled a total of approximately 120 individuals which were comprised of native american and non native americans.