Meet our partner…Cone Health Foundation!

Have you heard that Triad Health Project (THP) has received a $215,000 grant from the Cone Health Foundation? The funding has been granted as part of Cone Health Foundation’s three-year grant cycle for 2018-2021. These funds will be used to support our HIV Prevention and Care program, providing health education, risk reduction counseling, testing for HIV and other STIs, linkage to medical care, and services for people living with HIV that are designed to assist them in overcoming barriers to positive health outcomes, including achieving a suppressed HIV viral load.

The HIV Prevention and Care program encapsulates the whole of THP’s mission to prevent new HIV infections in Guilford County and assure that those living with the virus are able to access proper care to keep themselves and others healthy. THP’s free, confidential HIV/STI testing ensures that those who test positive are linked to care quickly, and that those most at risk receive education and instruction on safer sex practices to reduce their risk of infection. Comprehensive case management services assist clients living with HIV to overcome barriers to care and navigate local healthcare resources and social support services. The Higher Ground day center is an additional layer of support for HIV positive people and their loved ones, providing physical, behavioral and spiritual modalities as needed to bolster clients’ efforts to maintain care and treatment and connect with others in the community who are impacted by HIV/AIDS. Annually, the HIV Prevention and Care program serves 580 people living with HIV (including an estimated 55 people attending Higher Ground day center programs), 1,300 people who receive HIV tests, and 600 people who participate in health education sessions; equaling a total of 2,480 individuals. THP Executive Director Mark Cassity remarks that, “A consistent hallmark of Triad Health Project’s mission and vision has been its dedication to ‘whole-life’ care. When an HIV diagnosis enters a life, it is often part-and-parcel of a number of societal ills ranging from cyclical poverty to food scarcity to homelessness to mental health and addiction crises and much more. Triad Health Project addresses all these issues with compassion and professionalism. Our partnership with Cone Health Foundation not only moves us within sight of actually suppressing this virus in our community but also in sight of a more hopeful and healthy world at large.”

Wesley Long Community Health Foundation was established in 1997 by the Board of Directors of Wesley Long Community Hospital to promote the general health of the community. Following the merger of Wesley Long Community Hospital with The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in 1997, the foundation was renamed Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation. In 2010, the foundation underwent a major reorientation, devising a new strategy for addressing some of the community’s most urgent healthcare needs, and the foundation was renamed Cone Health Foundation. The foundation narrowed its focus at this time to address access to health care, adolescent pregnancy prevention, HIV, substance abuse and mental health. Cone Health Foundation has supported THP with grant funding and event sponsorship since 1999, and is the agency’s single largest funding partner. Since its founding in 1997, Cone Health Foundation has distributed more than $72 million in more than 1,297 grants and contributions. To learn more, please visit www.conehealthfoundation.com.

by Paula Barger, Director of Development