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Belle Reve’s Community Outreach program is a comprehensive program designed
to meet the needs of potential residents by keeping in regular contact,
offering support groups, and assessing the potential resident’s changing or
escalating needs regarding declining health/declining appropriateness of
current housing situation, and ability to fit in as a Belle Reve resident.
As potential residents,
Belle Reve’s Outreach clients serve as a pool to pick from when an opening
becomes available. An Outreach client can be any HIV-positive individual
who has entered into the system through
NO/AIDS Task Force or
another Case
Management agency,
has been assigned a Client Eligibility Verification (CEV), and lives in the
New Orleans Eligible Metropolitan Area (eight parish area to include
Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St.
John, and St. Tammany Parishes).
A person who might need
Belle Reve’s housing assistance will be referred to Belle Reve through
NO/AIDS Task Force or another Case Management agency. Program
Director Pam Smith, L.C.S.W., and Recovery
Readiness Coordinator Kim Marshall, M.S.W. (substance
abuse program) interview these clients. If there is a current opening, and
the referred client is deemed to be the candidate with the most need
(determined by declining health, lack of suitable housing, and other
factors), the client will be accepted as a resident. If there are no current
openings or a more needy client is chosen to fill the vacancy, then the
client will go onto the waiting list and will be considered an Outreach
client.
Social work staff will
make monthly phone calls (or more as needed) to attempt to monitor the
client’s living situation. It is often difficult to reach Outreach clients,
as many of them are homeless, have no phones, or move from place to place
as friends and relatives can take them. During an Outreach phone call, it
may be discovered that a client that formerly had a reliable place to live
is now at high risk for homelessness. If an opening is available at that
time, the Outreach client, providing that he is the most needy, will be
accepted as a resident. While on the waiting list, some Outreach clients will
be placed elsewhere, some will become residents, and some may need the
Outreach support groups for an indefinite period of time before actually
needing Belle Reve’s assisted living facility services.
HIV/AIDS-positive
individuals, who may not yet need Belle Reve’s assisted living facilities,
can use the Outreach program as a support group. Weekly lunches, preceded
by a support group, are offered every Wednesday at the residential
facility. Outreach participants who need support, a hot meal, or a safe place
to talk about their HIV status always are welcome. Since those who attend
the luncheon also must attend the support group, the event is considered a
social service appointment, and transportation, provided by Jefferson Parish
Human Services Authority (JPHSA), also is a free
service. For those who prefer, a weekly “Coffee Talk” support group is
offered to HIV-positive individuals. These meetings are held in a local
coffee shop and all Outreach clients are free to attend. Prior to becoming
a Belle Reve resident, an Outreach client may attend weekly lunches and
coffee support groups for the entire time he/she is on the waiting list.
When an Outreach client is difficult to reach, making him aware of our regular
Outreach lunches and coffee talks can be a way of having the client reach
Belle Reve. Similarly, if a client has not disclosed his HIV status to his
friends, family, and co-workers, Outreach support groups can serve as the
only safe place to speak about and to get information about the client’s
AIDS condition. Additionally, local professionals looking to start similar
programs for their institutions are often invited to Outreach events, such
as the Wednesday luncheon, allowing the professional the opportunity to
learn important information about how Outreach can work.
Outreach serves to let
Belle Reve know who in the community needs, might need, or will need our
facility. Meanwhile, an Outreach client has the opportunity to learn about
Belle Reve, participate in needed support groups, and to mentally prepare
him/herself for a day when he/she may enter the facility. Through our list
of Outreach clients, Belle Reve always will have a waiting list of
individuals in need of our services. We are, therefore, able to be as
efficient as possible, knowing whom our potential clients are, what
constitutes their needs, and who will be the most needy person to fill the
next vacancy.
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