Care-4-Families

The Care-4-Families program (C4F) provides comprehensive care, education, and psychosocial support for HIV-infected pregnant women and adolescents, HIV-exposed and infected infants, and HIV-infected children. A multidisciplinary team of HIV specialists including adult and pediatric infectious disease physicians, high-risk obstetricians, adolescent medical experts, nurse practitioners with training in Family and Women's Health, neuropsychologists, a social worker, and a dietician provide primary care for patients and counseling and education for their families. The C4F team works with UCLA subspecialists trained in child psychiatry, endocrinology, neurodevelopment, pulmonary disease, and cardiology to provide coordinated specialty care for patients.

C4F is a main site for the NIH-funded International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials group (IMPAACT) and Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG) in Los Angeles County.

State-of-the art immunology and virology laboratories located at UCLA support rapid diagnosis of HIV-disease and inform physicians in treatment decisions for C4F patients and any hospital in need of their services in Los Angeles County.

In addition to providing pediatric and perinatal HIV-consultation to physicians throughout Los Angeles County, C4F staff often provides telephone counseling to HIV- infected women who are considering initiating or terminating a pregnancy. Transmission rates of HIV have been dramatically lowered among HIV-infected women who are appropriately treated for their HIV-disease and who give birth in HIV-specialty care settings. Because of the specialized care and knowledge needed to lower perinatal HIV-transmission rates, HIV-care providers and testing centers throughout Los Angeles often refer HIV-infected pregnant women to C4F. Women who live as far away as Palmdale come to C4F for treatment during pregnancy and to UCLA to give birth.

Because of its ability to provide expert, comprehensive care to HIV-exposed and infected infants and children, C4F is a California Children's Services (CCS) approved care provider. Children who qualify for CCS (which supplements MediCal coverage for children who are HIV-exposed or infected) must receive services from one of a few CCS approved providers. So many families with exposed or infected children travel long-distances to C4F. Working with the Los Angeles Family AIDS Network and the Los Angeles Pediatric AIDS Foundation, C4F offers assistance with transportation to the clinic by taxi or bus, and provides meals for patients and their families who often travel long distances and spend several hours at the clinic and pharmacy.

If you would like more information about accessing C4F’s services, joining IMPAACT clinical trials, or donating your time, services, goods, or funding to C4F, please call Ruth Mares or Terri Sayama at 310-206-6369.