Ryan white title III HIV capacity development and planning grants - the cooper health system's (cooper) early intervention program (EIP) comprehensive care center is a ryan white (RW) HIV aids program…

Ryan white title III HIV capacity development and planning grants - the cooper health system's (cooper) early intervention program (EIP) comprehensive care center is a ryan white (RW) HIV aids program requesting $150,000.00 of funding through the part c capacity development program. The funding amount will support an expansion project for the one-year performance period of september 1, 2023 through august 31, 2024. Our project will focus on infrastructure development to strengthen our new dental services that, as of february 2023, augment our established comprehensive HIV primary health care for persons with HIV (PWH). We plan to expand general dentistry and dental surgery capacity with the addition of a 5TH exam/operating room with the provided funding. Cooper EIP provides multidisciplinary integrated medical and supportive services in a "one-stop shop" approach to care a long planned and anticipated expansion/renovation adding comprehensive dental services for EIP's PWH patient population was completed in january 2023. The space available in this expanded and renovated clinical area provides an opportunity to upgrade capacity beyond what was originally envisioned by the addition of a 5TH exam room capable of supporting services from general dentistry to surgical procedures augmented by inhalant twilight sedation and anesthesia. A significant percentage of EIP's patient population suffers from oral care challenges and disease. Opportunistic oral infections resulting from dental caries pose a higher risk of systemic spread in the immunocompromised. Insufficient insurance support for dental care often discourages PWH from scheduling routine dental maintenance creating a barrier our expanded service line will help alleviate. Successful care and treatment of PWH with dental care challenges will lead to improvement of adherence to antiretroviral therapy, viral load suppression, and retention in care, thereby driving forward the plan for ending the HIV epidemic (EHE) by 2025.