Center For Minority Studies Inc

Causes: AIDS, Health, Health Support, Public Health

Mission: The Center for Minority Studies provide quality health-related support services to underprivileged, disadvantaged, low socioeconomic status clients in Washington, DC and its surrounding metropolitan area.

Programs: The Center for Minority Studies HIV/AIDS Empowerment Program is a health literacy program for HIV infected patients. It's a mobile treatment adherence service that combines group educational sessions with individual consultations to educate participants on strategies to optimize treatment for HIV/AIDS. The health topics presented include but are not limited to: Basic facts of HIV/AIDS Maximizing Adherence Treatment Option for HIV/AIDS New Medication Update All or Nothing- Defining Non-Adherence Monitoring your therapy Opportunistic infections/risk reductionsTreatment adherence specialists have provided countless interventions through the provision of individual counseling sessions. Interventions include but are not limited to: Reviewing HAART Regimens, Adherence Enhancement, Side Effect Management, Drug/Food Interaction, Drug/Drug Interaction, Drug/Herb Interaction, Referral to Support Services, and Referral to Primary Care. During these sessions, clinical pharmacists, who function as treatment adherence specialists, work with clients to teach them how to effectively manage HIV on their own. Specific services rendered include medication counseling, filling pill boxes, side effect management, monitoring lab reports, and referral to primary care, and support services including but not limited to: substance abuse counseling, nutrition therapy, support groups, and housing assistance. Lastly the Center for Minority Studies Empowerment Program has provided several provider-focused training on the components of treatment adherence services including identifying barriers to adherence and updates on the medication used to treat HIV. In addition to the Empowerment Program the organization offers many other services to the community.Medication Therapy Management - consists of one-on-one consultative sessions to review medication therapy. Including name, dose, dosing schedule, side effects, and drug interactions.Health Topic Presentations - Topics presented include hypertension, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, mental health, arthritis, breast cancer, prostate cancer, syphilis, hepatitis C and others upon request.Providers training - Training sessions have been provided for case managers, health care providers and pharmacists. CMS also partners with the National Minority AIDS Education Training Center to provide traineeships on treatment adherence service provision.Professional Preceptorships - The Center for Minority Studies collaborates with Howard University School of Pharmacy to provide internship experiences for PharmD candidates, as a site for an administrative rotation. Students are taught how to provide and get compensated for the provision of pharmaceutical services.