BRIGHT
The Bridges to Good Health and Treatment (BRIGHT) Program assists HIV-infected men and women transitioning from prison back into their communities. Case managers use the innovative and motivational "strengths" model, an intensive case management approach, to help clients who are exiting prisons identify a medical home, adhere to HIV treatment, connect to social and mental health services, find a place to live, and begin the process of rebuilding their lives.
This groundbreaking program out of the Center for Infectious Diseases (CFID) (http://www.brightproject.org/) of the University Of North Carolina School Of Medicine originated in 2002 with the BRIGHT Study, a National Institutes of Health funded 5-year study. The study was so successful that it has now evolved into a service program covering 22 North Carolina counties, encompassing all of the major metropolitan areas of the state.
To date, BRIGHT case managers have worked with over 100 HIV-infected prisoners making this transition back into their communities. CFID clinicians and case managers have built a strong working relationship with the North Carolina Department of Correction (NCDOC) (http://www.doc.state.nc.us/) whose own outreach nurses are key to identifying and referring HIV positive inmates. David Wohl, MD, Director of the BRIGHT Program has presented findings from BRIGHT to the President's Advisory Council on AIDS, and at the International AIDS Meetings in 2006 and 2008.
The Consortium provides BRIGHT to a seven-county region in central North Carolina that includes Durham, Person, Granville, Franklin, Vance, Warren, and Wake Counties. The Consortium is one of twenty agencies nationwide funded through a competitive grant from the Pfizer Foundation's ConnectHIV Program (http://hivaidsphilanthropy.pfizer.com/connecthiv.aspx).
