Shelley L. Stinson, MPA

Director, Family Care Network
 

How did you personally get involved with providing HIV/AIDS care?

As far back as I can remember, I’ve embraced an overwhelming passion to help Black people navigate their life paths toward healthy and successful outcomes.  I just didn’t know then how I would do this.  Throughout my childhood, I witnessed racism, homophobia/transphobia, and chronic health disparities, partnered with self-medicating behaviors.  I phased through several “I want to be this when I grow up” career goals, pediatrician, neurosurgeon, professional Alvin Ailey dancer, and entrepreneur.  When I started my undergraduate education, my initial major was mathematics, which quickly changed after I met Calculus I.  I changed my major to Business Administration/Management.  My primary social circle has always consisted of Black Gay Men/Transgender Women and we believed the threat of AIDS to our community was non-existent because it was propagandized as a “Gay White Male Disease”!  Unfortunately, one of us became very sick, diagnosed with AIDS, and died at the age of 19. Since he only dated white men, we continued to not recognize the threat to our community.  https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/survivingandthriving/digitalgallery/detail-A025217.html

After I graduated college and secured my first job during a recession, my favorite uncle died due to AIDS complications.  He only dated Black men.  This confused me because of the media reports about only gay white men get AIDS.  One day I was talking to a co-worker and he disclosed that his wife was on the board of directors of a community-based organization providing support services primarily to Black gay men living with AIDS and the agency needed volunteers.  I immediately volunteered in the evenings hosting weekly Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, and support groups for Black women and Black men living with HIV/AIDS.  I volunteered full time while on vacation from my corporate job and soon resigned from the corporate job to become an employee of the community-based organization.  I felt as though my overwhelming passion to help Black people had been defined.  I was initially hired as the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director, but I had a strong desire to work directly with Black communities impacted by HIV/AIDS.  AIDS was now classified as a Gay Men’s Disease.  In my second year of employment, I was forced to get tested for HIV.   I discovered my partner’s sex addiction to prostitutes and his inconsistent condom use.  I realized that HIV/AIDS is indiscriminate. After receiving my test results, I dedicated my life to providing HIV prevention education to communities most impacted by HIV/AIDS. I mastered several positions within the agency during my employment: HIV Prevention Case Manager, Client Advocate, LGBTQ (Homeless) Youth Services Supervisor, Client Services Housing Director, HR Director, and Deputy Director.  I then worked for the Alameda County Public Health Department as an HIV Program Specialist in Care & Treatment and Prevention Education for 16 years.  In December 2017, I acquired the position of Program Director of the Family Care Network (FCN) program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (UBCHO) in the Center for Child and Community Health Department.  I loved and still love every aspect of working with my community and with persons at risk of acquiring or living with HIV to achieve their most beneficial health outcomes. I have witnessed resilience, determination, heroes/sheroes/theyroes, anger, hope, happiness, sadness, success, relapse, death, and rebirth.  This is what motivates me to continue to fight in the war on HIV.

What services does the Family Care Network?

Family Care Network (FCN), based at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (UBCHO) in the Center of Child and Community Health department, is a collaborative of six (6) agencies providing HIV care and support to Women, Infants, Children and Youth (WICY). Comprehensive, culturally sensitive medical care and medical case management is provided at three sites. Alameda Health Systems (AHS) provides medical care to women living with HIV and their affected partners; East Bay AIDS Center (EBAC) provides HIV primary care to women, transwomen and youth living with HIV; and, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (UBCHO) provides Outpatient Ambulatory Care and Medical Case Management to infants, children and youth living with perinatally acquired HIV. Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases (WORLD) provides peer-based advocacy/education and psychosocial support to women, transwomen, and girls. Mental health services are provided at La Clinica de la Raza (LCDLR) for bi/monolingual Spanish speaking individuals, and East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) addresses the specific legal needs of people living with HIV.

How would you describe the youth accessing this service?

The Family Care Network serves a large population of LBGTQ identified youth between the ages of 13 and 24, the majority of whom are African American. The primary mission is to improve and sustain the physical, social and emotional well-being of youth living with HIV through state-of-the-art medical care and psychosocial support. The youth clinic works to identify and link HIV-infected young people to care and to decrease rates of HIV transmission through social network and cutting-edge HIV/STI testing programs designed to identify youth at greatest risk for acquiring HIV.

What informational nuggets would you like to share with other clinical providers about LGBT youth?

When working with LGBTQ+ identified youth, it is most helpful to listen their unique needs, be honest with them, and honor them culturally. Youth need to feel they are respected, have a voice in their treatment plans, and feel safe when accessing services.       

How can patients be referred to the Family Care Network?

Referrals can be made to any of the locations listed below by contacting the director for guidance or the most appropriate agency to meet the needs of the individual seeking services.

Family Care Network
Shelley L. Stinson, MPA, Director
Phone: 510-597-7159

What additional support services are provided to the youth as well as the family?

Referrals can be made by contacting the most appropriate agency (listed below) that meets the needs of the individual seeking services.

UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland - Pediatric HIV/AIDS Program
Pediatric Infectious Diseases Dept, Outpatient Center
744 Fifty-Second Street, 4th Floor, East end
Oakland, CA 94609-1809
Contact: Teresa Courville, RN, MN
Phone:  510-428-3336

UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland’s Pediatric HIV/AIDS Program (PHAP) provides primary HIV care, mental health services, and case management services to infants, children, and youth with HIV.  Pre- and post-adoption consultation, education and care is available for families considering international adoption of children with HIV. The PHAP also provides educational support and counseling for pregnant women with HIV and their babies with perinatal HIV exposure. In addition, PHAP provides evaluation of and treatment for children and youth who have been sexually assaulted or exposed to potentially contaminated needles discarded in the community.

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center/East Bay AIDS Center/Downtown Youth Clinic
3100 Summit Street, 2nd Floor
Oakland, CA 94607
Contact:  Dr. Tony Sillemon
Phone:  510-869-8488

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center is the home of the East Bay AIDS Center (EBAC) and the Downtown Youth Clinic (DYC), which provides primary HIV care, medical case management, wellness navigation, psychiatric support, and peer services to individuals living with HIV. Other services include access to a benefits specialist, registered dietician, gynecological care, and there is a HIV specialty pharmacy on site.  EBAC is also serving as a sexual health clinic for individuals who have HIV-positive partners or are at risk of acquiring HIV, and the clinic can provide PEP or PrEP.

Alameda Health Systems - Adult Immunology Clinic (Highland Hospital)
1411 East 31st Street
Oakland, CA 94602
Contact:  Tonya Tyree, RN, Linkage Nurse
Phone: 510-437-4923

Alameda Health System (AHS) fulfills a leading role in providing Alameda County’s residents with access to quality, affordable, and in some cases free medical care delivered by experienced healthcare providers. For over thirty years, AHS’s Adult Immunology Clinic (AIC) has continuously provided primary medical care and several support services to individuals living with HIV. Some of the current support services offered through AIC include one-on-one medical case management, benefits counseling, weekly peer support groups, nutritional counseling, free dental care, housing assistance, therapy, and help getting free or low-cost medications for HIV.

East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC)
1950 University Ave., Suite 200
Berkeley, CA 94704
Contact:  Shauna Fujimoto, Esq.
Phone: (510) 548-4040

EBCLC provides critical legal services to Alameda County residents who are at risk of poor health due to poverty, unsafe living conditions, homelessness, inadequate health care coverage and other destabilizing social conditions.  Through its HIV/AIDS Law Project, the practice addresses the specific legal needs of HIV-positive Alameda County residents and helps clients stay healthy.

La Clínica de la Raza (LCDLR)
3451 East 12th Street, 3rd Floor
Oakland, CA, 94601-3463
Contact:  Claudia Rosales
Phone: 510-535-3714

La Clínica’s community Behavioral Health Department, Casa del Sol, has played an important role in helping Spanish speakers who would not otherwise receive counseling or crisis intervention services.   Casa del Sol currently offers behavioral health services for Alameda County residents through a variety of programs that are funded to provide treatment to Alameda County’s Spanish-speaking communities.  Services are provided in a culturally focused manner centered on individual, family, and community strengths.  Evidence based practices are utilized to support resiliency, wellness, and recovery.

Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases (WORLD)
389 30th St
Oakland, CA 94609
Contact: Tinia Briggs/Kandi Patterson
Phone: 510- 986-0340

WORLD improves the lives and health of women (including transwomen), girls, families and communities affected by HIV through peer-based education, wellness services, advocacy, and leadership development.  WORLD is a diverse organization for, by, and about women living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS.  WORLD’s programming includes Peer Advocacy, Linkage and Retention into Care, Substance Use Harm Reduction, HIV Prevention and Testing, Community Based Research, Local and National Advocacy, and Healthcare Services for women living with HIV.