History of HANS

HANS was formed in 1992 as Sarasota County Interagency AIDS Council and later became Sarasota HIV/AIDS Coalition (SHAC), then HIV/AIDS Network of Sarasota, before finally settling on the current name.  HANS was created to foster a spirit of cooperation among community-based organizations and HIV/AIDS service organizations.  Since that time, the coalition has evolved to discuss matters including budgets, programs, and services.  In 1995, the group agreed to be identified as a local planning partnership within Area 8’s Southwest Florida HIV/AIDS Community Planning Partnership, thereby creating as its main focus a truly comprehensive planning group for HIV/AIDS services in our community.  During the 1997/1998 year, HANS began plans to formalize the local process to include bylaws and short- and long-term goals that included the development of Prevention and Patient Care Committees.

In February 1998, the first strategic planning meeting was held to determine the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) of the group.  In June, that same year, the strategic plan continued with the development of a timeline, goals, and objectives.  The development of goals and objectives led to implementation of the following three subcommittees to continue to address prevention/intervention needs in Sarasota County:  1) By-Laws, 2) Prevention, and 3) Patient Care.  In January and April 1999, HANS met for several days of planning workshops to reexamine, modify, and add to the goals that had been identified the previous year.
 

Accomplishments

Over the past several years, HANS has made major strides in an effort to enhance its viability and effectiveness.  Some of the achievements have included:

• Advising and assisting the Sarasota County Health Department in the RFA process of HIV funding
• Revised By-Laws
• Established linkages with the Regional HIV/AIDS Council
• Identified and prioritized target populations of Sarasota County
• Identified and prioritized effective HIV/AIDS interventions
• Refocused the Prevention and Patient Care Committees through new leadership and cooperation
• Initiated the development of a welcome kit for new members
• Encouraged Members to update HANS on on-going projects and activities
• Facilitated the development of major funded, collaborative projects
• Diversified funding
• Updated the Parents Handbook in English and Spanish
• Initiated the development of a Community Needs Assessment (Sections I and II) were completed during 2005-06, Sections III and IV to be completed during 2006-07
• Service Provision Area (SPA) mapping was completed as to the Sarasota County with regards to services per zip codes and HIV/AIDS Prevalence rates per zip codes
• Identified target populations for Newtown, Laurel-Nokomis, North Port and South Venice for increased outreach services as to HIV testing
• Identified priority target populations:  Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM), Injection Drug Users (IDU) for all races and ethnic groups; heterosexuals for all races and ethnic groups; and HIV positives
• Networking among HANS members to offer CDC initiatives as related to Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions and Replicating Effective Programs DEBI/Reps) as related to Community AIDS Networks “VOICES” and “Prevention Case Management”  programs and the collective project of promoting  “Partnership for Health” within the clinical setting for  all health care provider Members of HANS

Strategic Planning is a continuing process for HANS as goals, objectives, strategies, and action steps are continually revised.  Parallel to the strategic planning has been the identification of prevention/intervention priority target groups in Sarasota County. 
 

Former Chairpersons

HANS would like to extend a special thank-you to the former Chairs of the Executive Committee for their dedication and service.