The Oklahoma Black Advocate

NO HEALTH CARE FOR BLACKS WITH HIV/AIDS IN RURAL OKLAHOMA

By LUCIOUS CLARENCE CONWAY, JR.
"There are not a lot of services for people with HIV/AIDS in your area. Check wi
th churches in your community and maybe someone will volunteer to drive you to w
here you can get help," said Chloe at the Oklahoma 2-1-1 Advisory Collaborative.
The 211 telephone number, operated by the non-profit Heartline provides inform
ation on statewide health and human services.
This fact was confirmed by Jan Fox, Oklahoma State Department of Health HIV/STD
Service Chief. Adding, "There are no Infectious Disease doctors in the McCurtain
County[SE Region of Oklahoma] area and it is hard to recruit physicians and nur
se practitioners. And, transportation is a problem [for them to access care]."
Fox also noted in her most recent newsletter that, "Blacks continue to be most h
eavily impacted by the epidemic. Blacks/African Americans (93 cases; 31.3 cases
per 100,000 population) had the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS cases for 2009. Th
eir rate was almost four times the rate for the entire state."
Over the past 12 years, Oklahoma has seen an increase in black adults living HIV
. Although the black population only accounts for approximately 7% of the Oklaho
ma population, they account for more than 34% of the cases of HIV. Approximatel
y 85% of black people living with HIV are between ages 20-49 years of age. And,
there has been a 125% increase in living HIV cases for black Oklahomans ages 30-
39. The most dramatic increase was observed in those ages 40-49 years of age. A
lso,there has been a 113% increase in black females living with HIV in Oklahoma.
And, these statistics only represent those who had access to transportation and
primarily resided in urban areas of the state.
"Funding" will close this transportation service delivery gap, commented Fox. Bu
t, where will this funding come from? Currently, the Hugo, Oklahoma based Little
Dixie Community Action Agency contracts with SoonerCare (Oklahoma Medicaid) in
partnership with LogistiCare Solutions, LLC (who provides Medicaid transportatio
n network management solutions in the United States), to provide some of their t
ransportation needs. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) is the state agen
cy that administers the program jointly funded by the federal and state governme
nt. This may be a strong argument for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act which expands the Medicaid program to include all individuals and families
with incomes up to 133% of the poverty level, which will increase funding.
However, Little Dixie, the only transportation provider in the Southeastern Okla
homa Region is overwhelmend by current demand as evidenced by high volumes of co
mplaints for consistently missing scheduled pick-ups for clients already on thei
r roster. And, they do not pick up those not qualified for SoonerCare in many of
the rural areas. Furthermore, to get tested for HIV/AIDS in rural Oklahoma or f
or other HIV/AIDS related services that are "non-medical" there is no public or
private transportation option. This results in no access to health care services
for a most vulnerable Black population in the the Southeastern Region of Oklaho
ma.