Jorge Vargas

Experience

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  Howard Area Community Center

  Nov 2013 - May 2014

  HIV Prevention Coordinator

  HIV Prevention Coordinator ❖ Oversee daily operation of HIV prevention and education program. ❖ Supervised Peer Educators, Supervised Social Media Advocates, Supervised Community Health Workers❖ Recruiting & hiring of new Social Media Advocates and Peer Educators.❖ Revamp and Redesign social media campaign for “the Green Light Project.”❖ Conduct and coordinate outreach in order to help identify new testing sites.❖ Conduct and coordinate outreach in order to recruit new clients for Howard Area Community Center. ❖ Conduct community based presentations to educate youth and target scopes on STI’s, HIV, and other infectious diseases.❖ Develop and implement cultural sensitive presentations. ❖ Represent Howard Area Community Center at community events, health fairs, and other events/meetings. ❖ Maintaining update Linkage/MOU agreements with other CBOs and organizations. ❖ Process and write all Biweekly, Monthly, and Quarterly reports for both CDPH and IDPH Grants. ❖ Input all data onto Evalweb, and excel databases. ❖ Recruit target populations/scopes for The Green Light Project.❖ Work with youth of color, trans youth, and homeless individuals to develop a better curriculum for projects.❖ Serve a caseload of 45 clients in need of general case management, assist in covering departments “open case management” hours when needed.❖ Assist in helping staff pantry days, and supervising volunteers. ❖ Research for grants for departments and HIV programs. ❖ Attend all trainings as required by grantees. Show less

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  Cook County Health and Hospitals System : Core Center

  May 2014 - Aug 2015

  Health Educator Project C.H.A.T/PFP/Project C.A.P

  Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center 2014 – Present Prevention for Positives Health Educator Chicago, IL ❖ Conduct individual level interventions with newly diagnosed and high risk HIV positive adult and adolescent patients focusing on HIV and STI education, healthy living, and goal setting behaviors. ❖ Conduct rapid HIV screenings at the walk-in clinic and at outreach events.❖ Conduct Refers to other services that patients need in order to chance lifestyle and habits that prevent them from achieving health and life goals.❖ Input al direct contact with patients into their medical record via Cerner database. Project C.A.P & Project C.H.A.T Health Educator ❖ Conduct rapid HIV screenings at the walk-in clinic and at outreach events.❖ Conduct outreach in order to help identify new testing sites.❖ Conduct outreach in order to recruit new patients for CORE center.❖ Recruit target populations/scopes for project C.H.A.T❖ Conduct community based presentations to educate individuals on STI’s, HIV, and other infectious diseases.❖ Develop and implement cultural sensitive presentations. ❖ Represent CORE Center and CCHS at community events, health fairs, and other events/meetings. ❖ Input all data into databases that included Access, Excel, and Evalweb. ❖ Met all scopes for grants.❖ Assist in grant writing and grant researching.❖ Develop and implement new outreach methods. ❖ Maintain good relationships and schedule events with community organizations. ❖ Other Assign duties by Supervisor. Show less

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  Association House of Chicago

  Aug 2015 - Feb 2016

  HIV Program Manager

  Responsible for the day to day operation of the AHC’s HIV staff and testing Mobile Unit. 1. Maintains accurate statistics and reporting of program activities on clients served. 2. Manages data for quarterly reports and funder site visits; assists with timely completion of quarterly and annual progress reports to funders. 3. Monitors HIV service contracts ensuring that goals, objectives and deliverables are met, and work with the Performance Quality Improvement department to track goals.4. Ensures grant expectations are met.5. Maintains ongoing contact with the Division Director, CDC Programs and Grants Officers, Chicago Department of Public Health staff and Consultants.6. Evaluates changing community demographics and trends and ensures that we test our target population. Conceptualizes new program methods to improve HIV service delivery and addresses specific community needs.7. Works with the Consumer Advisory Board to adapt program as necessary.8. Develops, expands, and supports a comprehensive, coordinated system of HIV and infectious disease care which increases access and retention to comprehensive, culturally and linguistically competent, and coordinated primary medical care.9. Assists in the development of new grant proposals to improve the system of care.10. Oversees HIV counseling, testing, referral efforts at AHC and in the Testing unit to identify diagnosed and undiagnosed HIV positive individuals in the target populations and ensure they are linked into primary medical care and retained in care. 11. Conduct HIV testing onsite and provide support to the HIV unit when needed.STAFF SUPERVISION1.Directly supervises HIV program specialists/case managers. Provides programmatic support and consultation to other HIV program staff. Show less

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  Rincon Family Services

  Jun 2016 - Dec 2017

  HIV Program Coordinator

  Oversee day to day operations of HIV project, HIV testing, STI referrals, and Community Education. Establish connections and collaborations within the targeted community to best promote services. Review accuracy of client data, maintain up-to-date client-related records, complete data entry, and meet deadlines for required documentation according to established protocols/standards. Coordinate and conduct a condom distribution campaign. Coordinate peer-driven client recruitment efforts in various settings. Conduct extensive targeted outreach to provide HIV health education, counseling, and testing services to Latino MSM and other individuals at risk for HIV infection.  Work with HIV+ individuals to assess individual risks and needs, and enroll qualified individuals into an individualized risk reduction program. Provide referrals to counseling for individualized risk reduction to HIV+ individuals to decrease the risk of transmitting the virus, including providing support with partner notification and medical adherence; provide group-level education to diverse populations, including people living with HIV. Serve as liaison and assist with collaborative support activities with community agencies with linkage agreements. Facilitate peer groups and make referrals to partner agencies. Show less

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  Cook County Health and Hospitals System : Core Center

  Oct 2017 - Jan 2019

  Prevention Programs Coordinator

  Over See Prevention Programs within the Preventive Health & Education Department. Develop, implement and monitor prevention programs for people living with HIV . Hire and supervise EIS, Health Educators, and Peer Educators. Develop and implement education curriculum on general prevention health topics. Develop polices and procedures. Oversee Prevention for Positives, and Early Intervention Services Program. Responsible for reports for administration, and funders. Asses individual and group health education needs for CORE Center Primary Care Clinics. Show less

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  Cook County Health: CORE Center

  Jan 2019 - Apr 2019

  Project Manager

  Oversee day-to-day operation of the texting project and prevention programs for people living with HIV. This includes but is not limited to: monitoring progress toward meeting objectives of the programs; developing materials for use within the texting project and prevention programs for people living with HIV program; conferring with the Principal Investigator (PI), Project Director (PD), and other CORE Center Directors, Coordinators, and staff to identify and resolve problems and implement the necessary changes. He/she will develop, implement and monitor. launch the pilot study, organize patient focus groups, including patient incentives, transportation, and data interpretation & dissemination. Develop databases and process evaluation reports related to the project’s organizational goals and objectives. Coordinate efforts with other projects at CORE working towards patient retention. Work with CRU regarding coordination of text reminders for patient appointments. The position is responsible for preparing and submitting program progress reports internally, as well as to the Federal Funder, the PI and the PD. Develop, implement, and provide patient education in related topics (e.g., medication adherence, relevant clinical indicators, etc.). Hires and supervises EIS, Health Educators and Peer Educators. Develops and implements educational curriculums on general prevention health topics to include but not limited to partner and self-protection, disclosure, STIs, PrEP, U=U and medication adherence. Develops policies and procedures Show less