Project STAY (Services To Assist Youth)

Ambulatory Care Network Community Programs

Mission

As a New York State AIDS Institute designated Specialized Care Center, Project STAYs mission is to provide sensitive and supportive HIV counseling and testing, and comprehensive medical, psychosocial, and case management services to high-risk medically underserved adolescents and young adults at risk for or living with HIV.

Project STAY advances service innovations through community partnerships, teaching and advocacy. Clients are treated equally with dignity, courtesy and confidentiality, regardless of ability to pay.

In a partnership with NewYork-Presbyterian and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Project STAY operates a clinic specifically for HIV-positive young people, as well as a Mobile Health Team that provides community outreach and education aimed at HIV and STI prevention. Project STAY is administered by the Harlem Health Promotion Center (HHPC).

Service Delivery Model

Adolescents and young adults, especially those at risk for or living with HIV, need a place where they feel understood and supported. Project STAY provides a medical home, staffed by specialized health care professionals who are skilled and passionate about delivering culturally sensitive and age-appropriate services. Our interdisciplinary staff members utilize an integrated team approach to deliver individually tailored and holistic services. We thoroughly assess each client in order to develop strategies to reinforce areas of strength and reduce health-compromising behaviors.

Consistent with NY State law, clients can access our services without parental consent, although family participation in the care process is encouraged. To avoid stigmatization, Project STAY's counseling, testing, and treatment services are located within community ambulatory care clinics that deliver a wide variety of primary care and family planning services to both young men and women, regardless of HIV status.

All services are available to young people between the ages of 13 and 24 years, without regard to catchment area. Clients are seen by appointment, as well as on a walk-in and emergency basis.

Clinic Locations

Project STAY has clinic hours at the Audubon Family Planning Practice and Young Men's Clinic and at the Family Medicine at the Herman Denny Farrell, Jr., Community Health Center.

Training

Project STAY provides educational opportunities for medical, public health, social work, health education, nurse midwifery and nurse practitioner students, as well as OB/GYN, pediatric, internal medicine and family practice residents. All students are supervised by a member of the Project STAY staff, and adhere to policies regarding patient confidentiality. Patients have the right to refrain from clinical interactions with students without compromising their medical or psychosocial care.