Are You Living With HIV? We Can Help!

CASE MANAGEMENT

Case management helps people living with HIV by providing them with information about HIV disease, connecting them to medical care so they can live well with HIV, and making sure they are aware of the supportive services they may be eligible for. If you are living with HIV our case managers can work with you to make an action plan for living well with the virus. The plan will be based on goals that are important to you and use your personal strengths to help you achieve those goals. Our case managers are trained to help you reach your goals. They know a lot about HIV disease, the challenges of living with HIV disease, and special services for people living with HIV disease. They also have a good knowledge of our community and the other agencies that can be helpful to you.
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HEALTH CARE OPTIONS

logoIf you are living with HIV it is important for you to have a health care provider. There are a number of things you will want to think about when choosing your provider: how knowledgeable they are about HIV, whether or not they accept your health insurance, are they someone that you can talk to about your health concerns, etc. Our case managers can help you to think about what matters most to you in choosing a health care provider, and refer you to the local providers who specialize in HIV. You can also find HIV providers close to you here.

We can provide case management services to you no matter who you choose as your health care provider.

We do have an agreement with the Center for Public Health (CPH, a Ryan White funded clinic) at the Reading Health System that allows our case managers to work as part of your care team if you are a patient of CPH. This makes it easier for you to get all of the services that you may need to live well with HIV.

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MEDICATION ADHERENCE

If you are living with HIV, it is important to take your medications exactly as the doctor tells you to (this is known as “adherence”).

Taking medicines exactly as you are told, 100% of the time, is hard for most people. For people who are living with HIV it can be even harder because of things like the number of pills they have to take for HIV and other health conditions, the side effects of the medicine, or the fear of other people knowing that they are taking medicine for HIV.

But, missing doses of your HIV medicine can give the virus a chance to change itself (mutate) in a way that the medicine will not work as well. If this happens, your doctor will have to change your medicine. If this happens a lot, there could come a time when none of the HIV medicines will work for you.

Our nurses are AIDS Certified Registered Nurses (ACRNs). This means they have had special training about HIV and HIV medicines. They can work with you to help you understand how HIV medicines work and the choices you have about HIV medicines. They can also help you make your own plan to be successful in taking every dose of  your medicine every day.

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Support Our Cause

Co-County Wellness Services improves public health through service, education, and advocacy in the PA counties of Berks and Schuylkill. We provide free case case management, HIV medication education; HIV and STD Counseling and Testing; prevention interventions and lead a teen pregnancy prevention initiative Berks Teens Matter.

Thank you for considering a donation to Co-County Wellness Services, a community based 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. Your financial donation is tax deductible and it enables CCWS to continue providing service, education, and advocacy for the public health.

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Berks County Contact

429 Walnut Street
Reading, PA 19601
P: (610) 375-6523
E: ccws1@cocounty.org
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Schuylkill County Contact

512 N. Centre Street · Suite 1B
Pottsville, PA 17901
P: (570) 622-3980
E: sws1@cocounty.org
View our hours