Grantee Spotlight:

Community Involvement: AIDS Arms Community Advisory Committee

The Community Advisory Committee of AIDS Arms, Inc. in the Dallas EMA has seen quite an evolution since its inception four years ago. What began as a challenging and often barrier-ridden concept, today has evolved to a successful and active group of committed individuals who engage in several quality-driven activities for an array of programs and services, such as outreach, case management, outpatient medical care, clinical trials, and medication assistance.

The initial concept was to create and implement a Consumer Advisory Council to provide critical client feedback into the system of care to improve efficiency, quality, and responsiveness. The Council was to be entirely comprised of consumers with facilitation assistance from AIDS Arms Continuous Quality Improvement program staff. Implementation challenges were encountered in the recruitment and retention of interested consumers. Transportation, childcare, time management, and conflicts with meeting schedules were all issues affecting participation. Additionally, AIDS Arms found that other community members wanted to be involved as HIV and AIDS touched their lives in different ways (as clinicians, employers, family members, researchers and concerned citizens).

Based on input received from consumers and the community, AIDS Arms made important changes to the Council that profoundly impacted its success. Consumers began receiving stipends for their time to help offset transportation and childcare costs, and food was incorporated into the meetings held during early evening hours. Additionally, consumers welcomed other community members into their ranks as they saw the importance of diverse perspectives, skills, backgrounds, and thoughts. Finally, the group wanted to expand its role beyond established goals to a more encompassing scope of review and input. The name to the Community Advisory Committee was changed to be more inclusive and incorporated it into an official committee of the AIDS Arms Board of Directors so the membership would have a more direct and stronger voice of influence.

Today, the AIDS Arms Community Advisory Committee has ten committed members representing many walks of life and investment in responding to the impact of the HIV epidemic in the community. They meet bimonthly and take on such issues as an annual client satisfaction survey; retention and adherence to care; recruitment in HIV research activities; and established and emerging barriers to care. AIDS Arms is very proud of the Advisory Committee and its members as they diligently work on behalf of the thousands impacted by HIV and AIDS in the Dallas EMA.