TRUCHA (Together Reaching Users Combating HIV and AIDS)
Official Name: Community Health Education
La Clínica’s HIV prevention department, Together Reaching Users Combating HIV and AIDS (TRUCHA), has been delivering HIV testing, outreach, and prevention services for over 25 years. TRUCHA was established 25+ years ago to respond to the threat of HIV in the Latinx community, especially for those most vulnerable, such as the jornaleros (day laborers). Since then, TRUCHA has grown and undergone many changes. Today TRUCHA is still a site where people in the community can come for culturally relevant services related to HIV prevention and HIV care, as well as other services that affect our community.
The prevention program consists of staff members who are certified HIV test counselors, trained in numerous elements of behavioral change, health education, and health communication, and are culturally and linguistically representative of the community they serve. TRUCHA staff includes HIV Test Counselors, PrEP Navigators, and Health Educators who lead support groups and group-level intervention programs. TRUCHA further specializes in linking/re-linking clients living with HIV to HIV care. Staff members employed by La Clínica’s HIV prevention program are bilingual in English and Spanish, bicultural, state-certified HIV test counselors, trained in numerous elements of behavioral change, health education, and health communication, and experienced working in the Latinx LGBTQ+ community. TRUCHA’s HIV prevention staff also assists in referring patients from TRUCHA to other services offered at La Clinica.
