Texas Health Action

Kind Clinic’s sexual health services include pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention (PrEP), post exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention (PEP), STI testing and treatment, HIV testing and medical care, and gender affirming care.

In our previous fiscal years, and through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kind Clinic continued to expand to meet the growing demand for sexual health services in San Antonio and Austin. After unconventional clinic openings during COVID-19, which included virtual appointments and enhanced safety protocols, Texas Health Action celebrated the one-year anniversaries of Kind Clinic San Antonio in March 2021 and Kind Clinic Austin – South in October 2021. In April 2021, Texas Health Action opened its newest Kind Clinic in Austin at 101 W. Koenig Lane. To pay special tribute to the opening, then Austin City Council Member Greg Casar declared April 17, 2021, as “Be Kind Day” in Austin. [photo of Casar with proclamation]

The newest Kind Clinic opened inside Walgreens in the Oaklawn neighborhood of Dallas in January 2022. This partnership of locating inside a Walgreens is a new model to try expanded access to sexual health services.  [pictures from ECPR on opening]

PATIENT DEMOGRAPHICS 

TOTAL PATIENTS SERVED:

• 6,501 people received STI testing
• 5,501 patients received a PrEP prescription
• 2,902 patients received gender affirming care
• 1,149 patients living with HIV in care

Kind Clinic

COMMUNITY HEALTH PROGRAM:

 We believe health equity requires outreach and services that are inclusive of orientation, identity, sero-status, race, ethnicity, location, or situation.

Through our mobile testing van and drop in testing (outside of regular Kind Clinic appointments):

• 8,076 people tested for STIs
• 1,688 people received STI treatment

Community Health Net Promoter Score: 96

PATIENT SUPPORT PROGRAMS:

• OutYouth Transwellness: We have a formal partnership with OutYouth to provide for the Transwellness project that offers support and social activities for transgender and gender expansive people.
  • The Transwellness project provided counseling for 55 individual clients and held 96 group sessions during the fiscal year.
• Kind Medical Legal Partnership: The Kind Medical Legal Partnership is a formal partnership with Texas Legal Service Center to provide a staff attorney to address the health harming legal needs of patients and clients. Services include name and gender marker corrections, housing and employment discrimination, and policy briefing with impact on LGBTQIA+ people and people living with HIV.
  • During the course of the year, the Kind Medical Legal Partnership saw 104 patients.
  • Name and gender marker corrections were 64% of those seen.
• UT Medical School Residents: Psychiatry residents at UT Dell Medical School in Austin provided psychiatric services for 99 people.

MPOX:

In July 2022, we encountered our first patient presenting with symptoms from mpox (formerly monkeypox). We knew that this was affecting men who have sex with men and usually during close or sexual contact. We leapt into action to help patients with screening, testing, and treatment, and vaccinated several thousand people by the end of the fiscal year. Mpox of course continued throughout 2022.

We continued our work in screening, testing, treating, and vaccinating for mpox in to 2023. We are working to apply the lessons learned from the worst days of the COVID pandemic in addressing health equity and being experts in the health issues that disproportionately impact LGBQTIA+ people and people impacted by HIV.

SHIFT TO PATIENT PANELS:

For the first several years, Kind Clinic had two providers and patients were not assigned to a specific provider. This worked for the first days we as built our capabilities in providing PrEP and STI testing and treatment. We have grown over the years with 5 physicians and 13 nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Also, over the course of this time we have grown in offering gender affirming care and HIV medical care. We saw the need among patients to create a more lasting relationship with a provider to reduce the burden of retelling a history or addressing other issues during an appointment. This year we launched patient panels (seeing the same provider) for people receiving gender affirming care or HIV medical care.  This is the start of our journey in patients being able to have a usual provider and we will continue to explore ways to add value to the experience of receiving care from Texas Health Action programs.

In the spring of 2021, Texas Health Action was the first nonprofit in the country to successfully launch a statewide telehealth service that provides access to HIV prevention & care and gender affirming care at little to no cost to the patient. TeleKind allows any Texas resident 18 years and older to access sexual health services regardless of gender identity, gender expression, race, creed, sexual orientation, immigration status, or ability to pay.

PATIENT DEMOGRAPHICS

TOTAL PATIENTS SERVED:

• 382 people received a PrEP prescription
• 675 people received PrEP through a partnership with Mistr
• 59 patients living with HIV in care
• 349 patients received gender affirming care

TeleKind provides access to HIV prevention through PrEP, HIV medical care, and gender affirming care to people age 18 and up in Texas. While Kind Clinic provides in-person appointments and virtual appointments in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, TeleKind is able to reach across the state, including individuals in rural areas. In a state as big as Texas, rural communities have limited access to quality sexual health services and prevention that are free of judgment and stigma.

TeleKind appointments are made possible through secure, two-way video with a health care provider specializing in serving the LTBQIA+ community and people living with HIV. Patients are also assigned a personal care navigator to help guide them through the appointment process, care plans and options for at-home testing kits and direct-to-patient prescription delivery.

There is still a long way to go toward equitable access to care and ending the HIV epidemic in Texas. Through TeleKind, and telehealth services in general, Texas Health Action is empowering people with the knowledge and telehealth resources needed to take charge of their sexual health by actively preventing the transmission of HIV.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Partnerships:

In 2019, Black people represented 13% of the US population, but 40% of people with HIV (HIV.gov). AIDSVu from 2018, revealed that Texans ages 15-34 have the second highest number of HIV infections, which directly impacts college students.

In 2021, TeleKind began relationships with two HBCUs in Texas, to include Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M. This intentional pursuit to partner with these Historically Black Colleges and Universities is vital, as the program focuses on health equity. Black/African American communities are disproportionately affected by HIV compared to other racial/ethnic groups. As an alumnus of a HBCU, Alabama State University, our Director of Telemedicine understands the significance of health literacy as the program targets this vulnerable population.

TeleKind Success Story:

TeleKind has been providing 52-year-old patient with gender affirming care since June of 2021. Initially, she started HRT in 2020, but due to legal issues related to child custody she had to discontinue. She was excited to start back on Feminizing Gender Affirming hormone therapy and have an affirming team dedicated to her success. She currently works as a camera operator in the film industry and travels back and forth between Texas and Florida. She has been a TeleKind patient for about 18 months and is experiencing tremendous growth in both her physical and mental health. She was able to legally change her name and gender marker with the assistance of our care navigation team, which allowed for access with other medical providers in a more competent manner. For every milestone accomplished, she lets us know how excited and thankful she is for the care and the assistance that TeleKind provides. It is patients like this who motivates TeleKind to do this meaningful work, for every encounter she leaves us with an indelible impression!

In January 2021, Waterloo Counseling Center officially became a program of Texas Health Action alongside Kind Clinic, with a vision to integrate mental health and sexual health services. Waterloo Counseling Center was created in 1983 to respond to the counseling and health needs of people living with HIV and AIDS in Central Texas, and shares Texas Health Action’s commitment to patient centeredness and delivering care that is free of stigma.

TOTAL PATIENTS SERVED:

• 293 individual clients seen
• 14 clients seen as couples
• 19 clients seen in group sessions

Waterloo Counseling Center is one of very few behavioral health providers that is specifically LGBTQIA+ affirming and provides therapy on a sliding scale for clients who may not have an ability to pay. Depression and anxiety are two- to three times higher among LGBTQIA+ people than non-LGBTQIA+ people, creating a large need for therapy and behavioral health services.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of telehealth services, and therapy provided by Waterloo Counseling Center was no exception as individual and group sessions moved online. Teletherapy has taken off and is now part of the standard of care. 

Groups that Waterloo is providing, possible client story?