Jay A. Heitzner, BS¹, Farah M. Parvez, MD, MPH¹, Reena Mahajan, MHS¹, Tracy Hatton², Michele D. McNeill¹, Wanda D. Roberts³, Pamela Johnston⁴, and James L. Capoziello, JD⁵. (1) New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Office of Correctional Public Health, 225 Broadway, 23rd Floor, Room 1, New York, NY 10007, 212-788-3996, jheitzne@health.nyc.gov, (2) Division of Health Care Access and Improvement, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Transitional Health Care Coordination, 225 Broadway, 23rd Floor, Room 3, New York, NY 10007, (3) Correctional Health Services, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 225 Broadway, 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10007, (4) Correctional Health Services Office of Clinical Administration, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 225 Broadway, 23rd Floor, Room 10, New York, NY 10007, (5) Health Care Access and Improvement, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 161 William Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10038

Background: Limited programs are available in correctional settings to address health concerns and needs of families and friends of incarcerated populations. Rikers Island, one of the largest jails in the country, has over 100,000 admissions and 580,000 inmate visitors annually. In collaboration with the New York City Department of Correction (DOC), we developed an inmate family outreach program called R.E.A.C.H. (Resources to Expand Access to Community Healthcare) to empower visitors by providing health education information, links to community services, and facilitated enrollment into health insurance programs. Methods: In September 2003, we conducted a needs assessment survey of inmate visitors at the Rikers Island Visitor Center to determine the scope of services for the REACH Program. Visitors were asked questions about their overall concerns and need for health information, services, and insurance. Results: We surveyed a total of 40 inmate visitors; median age was 27 (range: 16-77) years. Visitors requested information on: health-related topics (n=37; 93%) and health insurance (n=22; 55%). For the 37 visitors requesting health information, topics of interest included: nutrition and exercise (n=22; 59%); Human Immunodeficiency Virus/sexually transmitted diseases (n=17; 46%); smoking (n=16; 43%); child health (n=15; 41%); diabetes (n=15; 41%); asthma (n=14; 38%); hepatitis (n=13; 35%); and depression (n=12; 32%). Areas of top concern included: employment (n=12; 30%); housing (n=10; 25%); and finances (n=7; 18%). Of note, 10 (25%) visitors expressed concerns related to self-esteem, domestic violence, “staying alive”, and not having a future. Using this data, we designed the REACH Program to include the provision and distribution of: 1) hundreds of brochures on a variety of health topics, including mental health; 2) information on accessing City services; and 3) facilitated health insurance enrollment at the Rikers Island Visitors Center. To date, we have conducted outreach to over 1,000 visitors and signed up 22 people for health insurance screening. Conclusion: Our data suggest that inmate visitors: 1) are interested in obtaining health and social services information; 2) are concerned about employment, housing, and finances; and 3) may have unmet mental health needs. The REACH program is an innovative approach to educate and empower inmate families and friends about health issues and community resources and, as a result, promote family and community reintegration.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of this session, the participant will be able to list the health topics of interest for inmate visitors, describe services provided by the REACH program, and identify potential collaborators to replicate a similar program.

Keywords: Correctional Health Care, Outreach Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.