Bangor advisory committee recommends $550,200 for two intensive case managers to address HIV cluster among unhoused residents

The Bangor opioid settlement funds advisory committee recommended the city hire two intensive case-management staff for a two-year period and allocate $550,200 to fund the roles and related transportation and operating costs to respond to a local HIV cluster affecting people who are unhoused and have co-occurring substance use disorders.

The recommendation came to the City Council at the July 28 workshop from committee members who said the collaborative of local providers lacks a coordinated, intensive case-management model to find, engage and retain people in care. Committee member Jason Hunt and Health Promotion Manager Jamie Comstock described how providers across the Greater Bangor area have been coordinating contact tracing, outreach and treatment but identified gaps in intensive case management that a time-limited city-funded intervention could fill.

Committee members described the reasoning for a two-year, time-limited model: intensive case managers would work to find and link people to care, support medication adherence until viral suppression (which…