FY 2024 behavioral health service expansion - applicant organization name: AIZER health, INC

Health center program grant number: H80CS24138 AIZER health, INC. (AIZER) proposes to increase the number of patients receiving mental health services and substance use disorder (SUD) services, including patients receiving treatment with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), by hiring culturally competent and bilingual providers with specialized expertise in behavioral health, expanding clinical skills for behavioral health staff, enhancing telehealth capacity, and implementing community education initiatives to dismantle barriers to care. AIZER serves ZIP code 10950 in orange county, new york, which includes a large cultural sub-population of approximately 33,200 hasidic jewish persons living within and around the racially and culturally "similar" community of kiryas joel. The residents of kiryas joel experience significant poverty, as 75% live below 200% of federal poverty level, VS. 51% of the overall ZIP code population, and 43% live in severe poverty below FPL, compared with 28% in the ZIP code (US census), with significant cultural and linguistic barriers to accessing mental health services. The region also includes a growing hispanic community, which has grown to 12.5% of the total population (US census), that also faces financial and language barriers to accessing care. The hasidic community experiences unique behavioral health disparities as few providers outside AIZER offer services in a linguistically appropriate and culturally sensitive manner. Cultural expectations involve marrying early and starting large families. As such, the population is markedly young with 78% under the age of 19 (US census), and vulnerable to the rising rates of mental health and SUD needs. At AIZER, 22% of adult patients and 15% of child/adolescent patients have a mental health diagnosis; despite this, only 3% of patients utilized mental health services in 2023, demonstrating a significant GAP in access to care within the community. AIZER is committed to meeting the evolving needs of the community by strategically recruiting and hiring behavioral health providers with expertise in mental health and addiction services, prioritizing recruiting professionals who are culturally competent and bilingual, who respect and understand the unique backgrounds of the patients and families. To address critical mental health and SUD needs, AIZER will hire 3.0 ftes licensed clinical social workers (LCSWS), 1.0 FTE peer support counselor, and 1.0 FTE credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor (CASAC) and expand clinical training offerings to staff. To reduce stigma, AIZER has adopted an integrated approach to embed behavioral health screenings in primary care, finding that patients are more open to care in these settings. By improving its telehealth capacity, AIZER will enhance and expand this model so that providers are able to reach more patients in need of mental health and SUD services across satellite clinics. AIZER will enhance its outpatient mental health services by, for the first time, initiating SUD counseling and deliver MOUD as a new service. This is a significant step in improving care delivery for a community that faces high stigma and discrimination in accessing care, and for whom culturally and linguistically competent services are severely lacking. This will improve health outcomes, limit hospitalizations, and decrease severity and worsening of behavioral health symptoms. AIZER aims to implement effective prevention and management of mental health and SUD with the collaboration of with local healthcare providers, schools, social service agencies, and community organizations to create a network for referrals and coordinated care. As the community faces heightened barriers to seeking behavioral health care, AIZER will create linguistically appropriate education materials to spread awareness and break down stigma to ensure more patients receive the care they need.