Dr. LaShonda Spencer Leads the Drew C. A. R. E. S. Team in Aggressively Challenging HIV and AIDS
Why is Drew C. A. R. E. S. important to the CDU mission? Dr. LaShonda Spencer, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Director of Drew C. A. R. E. S. was thoughtful for a moment.“ That’ s a good question. The CDU mission is all about educating health professionals dedicated to pursue social justice and health equity for our community given its underserved population. DREW C. A. R. E. S. is very similar. We’ re here to ensure excellence in HIV education, research, and our services that we provide to the community in South LA, and our new international work as well. We focus on the disproportionate impact of HIV on our communities, through the services that we provide here through behavioral and clinical interventions from prevention to diagnosis,” she stressed.
She explained how Drew C. A. R. E. S. plays a vital role in the community that it serves.“ The impact of HIV is disproportionate to the communities in South LA. Therefore, we use a lot of our services to address the needs of the Black and Brown communities here. We work hand in hand with local partners, which includes the LA County Public Health Department that funds a lot of our grants, towards the national goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030.” She cited the patient care services at the MLK Oasis Clinic, where she serves as medical lead.“ Our staff offers testing, prevention, and treatment navigation services, which is a big part of our work with the community because our navigators work with patients that have challenges accessing service and staying in care.
Food supplied at Granada on Broadway, a Drew C. A. R. E. S. program site
“ And part of that obligation is addressing the importance of the social determinants of health,” she added.“ Addressing housing needs, food and financial
Dr. LaShonda Spencer, Leon Maultsby
insecurities, and referring people to resources.” Her team provides mental health services for clients at Oasis.“ Not only just mental health, but substance abuse counseling and support groups for those that have challenges in those areas,” she added. Drew C. A. R. E. S. provides community education through the APLA education and training center located on campus. APLA also provides HIV education to medical providers, nurses and students.
“ We also offer training through community education events and fairs,” she said. On the day that we met, Drew C. A. R. E. S. commemorated National HIV AIDS Awareness Day with such a fair. Drew C. A. R. E. S. holds such events continually throughout the year and partners with local community agencies address the challenges our communities face in a more affirmative manner.“ We’ re really strong on engagement of the community through our programs as we put them on.”
Drew C. A. R. E. S. is actively maintaining the enduring legacy that Dr. Wilbert Jordan founded. Obviously, program leadership would be remiss if they did not follow his blueprint.“ He was so strong on taking care of our community, those folks that have HIV, making sure that they get the best care possible.” Oasis Clinic was one of the first clinics in South LA that took care of Brown and Black people with HIV and AIDS.“ And we have continued that tradition of excellence of skilled care,” she said. Through the aforementioned community service projects, Drew C. A. R. E. S. continually engages at all levels. We’ ve really grown our prevention network of services, and we assist our colleagues in the primary care clinics and other fields on the MLK campus,” she noted.
To the prospect of how the future looks like for Drew C. A. R. E. S., Dr. Spencer was absolutely glowing.“ The future is bright we have an excellent team. The excellence is because we’ re responsive and flexible, both to our University’ s needs and the community that surrounds us.“ We’ re a diverse group of multidisciplinary folks. We’ re educators, researchers, providers, service learners, and
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