The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs’ Data, Survey and Health Analysis group (DASH) has been traveling to city and county jails across Ohio conducting face-to-face interviews and distributing pen and paper surveys in order to learn how jails identify and care for inmates with HIV/AIDS. The group hopes the data they collect will help improve the care provided to jail inmates with HIV/AIDS by recognizing the best ways jails are caring for inmates with HIV/AIDS, so that jails can benefit from the experiences of their peer institutions, and by identifying the types of assistance that would be most helpful to jails as they continue to improve the level of HIV care they provide.
The Ohio Department of Health has funded this $100,000 study to examine how inmates with HIV/AIDs are cared for in jails and what measures might be employed to improve their care. In addition, ODH endeavored to learn how local resources could be utilized to help inmates with HIV/AIDS both during their stay and upon their release.
Unlike prisons, which are financed and regulated by the state, Ohio jails are run entirely by the county or city in which they are located.All inmate expenses, including healthcare and medication, are funded by the jail. This can make proper care of inmates difficult or impossible due to the extremely high cost of HIV medications and treatment. For anyone with HIV/AIDS, gaps in medical care and medication administration can be life threatening. According to Voinovich School project manager Sara Boyd, maintaining a medication regimen without interruptions reduces the risk of viral resistance to the medication.
The DASH team, which secured the grant in September, has enlisted the assistance of various partners to help make this project a success.Instrumental to encouraging jails to participate in the study was the support of Butch Hunyadi, Adult Detention Bureau Chief, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and Robert A. Cornwell, Executive Director of Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association.At Ohio University they enlisted the help of Tim Heckman, Ph.D. and Bernadette Heckman, Ph.D., faculty whose research focuses on individuals with HIV and AIDs.In addition, they have been in contact with Ryan White HIV care coordinators across the state to learn about the community-based HIV care resources available to jails.
The DASH project team goal is to meet with a representative from nearly every jail, and to provide surveys to all of the jails in the state (over 90 in all). After they collect information from the jails, DASH will record and analyze the data using a unique database they have created.The database will allow DASH to compare jails of similar size or region, quickly and easily.
Thus far, DASH has visited and conducted interviews by phone with jails in two of the nine Ryan White regions in Ohio, obtaining information from virtually every jail and they will travel to the rest of the state over the next few months. At the completion of the study, they will produce a written report which can be used by ODH and the jails to work to better meet the needs of all inmates with HIV/AIDS.