Wellmark Foundation Grant to Support Counseling Program for People Living with HIV/AIDS

October 8, 2007

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Contact:
Angela Feig
515.245.4551
feigab@wellmark.com

(Des Moines, Iowa) – A $26,500 grant from The Wellmark Foundation will allow the AIDS Project of Central Iowa in Des Moines to develop a mental health and counseling program for persons living with HIV/AIDS in central Iowa.

“The HIV/AIDS Mental Health Case Management and Therapeutic Counseling Program will address the problem of under diagnosed and under treated depressive conditions within the community of people living with HIV/AIDS in central Iowa,” says Peggy Stecklein, executive director of the AIDS Project of Central Iowa. “The program will strive to improve health literacy in the area of depression and help clients overcome barriers to accessing mental health services in their communities.”

According to Stecklein, the multi-disciplinary program will involve primary and specialty medical care, case management, therapeutic counseling and distribution of health literacy tools. Strategies will include development of educational training sessions for case managers and health clinic professionals, development and distribution of information materials, and implementation of various mental health services. The program will target Iowans living with HIV/AIDS in fourteen central and southern Iowa counties, with the majority of clients residing in Polk County.

Partners include the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center, Primary Health Care, Inc., Iowa Health Physicians’ Infectious Disease Clinic, and CIC Associates, Inc. For more information about the HIV/AIDS Mental Health Case Management and Therapeutic Counseling Program, contact Peggy Stecklein at peggys@aidsprojectci.org or (515) 284-0245.

The Wellmark Foundation has provided more than $12.77 million to fund 374 health-related grants in Iowa and South Dakota since 1997, including a total of $1,854,175 to date in 2007. “The Wellmark Foundation works to improve the health of Iowans and South Dakotans,” says Matthew McGarvey, director of The Wellmark Foundation. “Through this multi-faceted program, the AIDS Project of Central Iowa will engage central Iowans living with HIV/AIDS in services designed to improve health literacy and reduce depression.”

The Wellmark Foundation is a private, non-profit foundation created by Wellmark, Inc., doing business as Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa. Visit The Wellmark Foundation's Web site at www.wellmark.com/foundation for a list of grant recipients and grant application instructions. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and The Wellmark Foundation are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.