Registered Community Nurse or Midwife at Widows and Orphans Empowermrnt Organisation

 Location:                    The successful candidate must reside in any of the following: Local Governments Area; Obio-Akpor, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni,Abuaodua, Oyigbo, Eleme, Okirika, Bonny, Ikwerre, Gokana,Andoni, Tai, Etche, Khana, Ahoada East, Degema, Port-Harcourt mand Emohua.

OVERVIEW 

Community Nurse or Midwife

The community nurse or midwife works alongside the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) CBO and community service providers to coordinate all care and support service initiatives. S/He will be responsible for developing, streamlining and strengthening linkage and feedback mechanisms between the various health facilities within the CBO catchment communities. S/He will primarily be responsible to ensure: 1) basic healthcare needs assessment of all pediatric and adolescent clients’ and their “OVC” family units; 2) their access to community based (wrap around) care & support services; 3) follow-up on feedbacks from all referrals. The community nurse/midwife spends 70% of his/her workweek within the community, conducting home visits, networking with maternity homes, private clinics, PHCS and TBAS.

He/She implements HIV Testing for children and their families, referral/linkage system for all prospective & existing clients to ensure the highest standard of access to care, treatment & support services for all patients enrolled in care. He/She will actively initiate personal relationships with the facility focal person to establish a feedback process for all referrals.

It is anticipated that the community nurse/midwife will spend 30% of his/her time at the CBOs, participating in service conducting family preventive screening, nutrition assessment and counseling for clients on HIV treatment, maintain a line list for all, assess adherence, ensure medication checks/refill, clinic appointment & viral loads are up to date (if not, work with caregiver and facility to schedule and arrange escort services for the visit) and facilitate patient access to consistent care activities. For the other 70%, s/he will work in the community on network creation, advocacy for HIV testing at health service outlets, Home visits, community resource identification and service evaluation activities.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Serve As The Health Service Coordinator at the CBO and a Liaison For Community Resources for patients
• Work under the supervision Of IHVN Rivers State OVC and Care & Support Program Officers to:
• Focus on mainly client retention in care and viral suppression
• Perform basic health assessments (aka 2nd &3rd 95)
• Perform Non-Invasive Procedures e.g dry blood sample Collection (DBS) sample collection for VL & EID If Needed (Work With CBOs To ensure samples of eligible clients are taken and documented In The appropriate Tools )
• Draw up weekly/monthly activity plan aligned with program reporting needs
• Assess existing internal and external linkages and implement concrete strategies for strengthening them
• Work with the social workers/CBO staff to conduct community and resource mapping to Identify additional health, nutritional and social resources.
• Expand current community networks within CBO catchment areas.
• Create linkage points with other groups, e.g. community PLHIV support groups, Tb/Dots programs and primary health centers Etc.
• Maintain close communication and coordination between HIV/TB Dots Referrals for other health needs and documentation.
• Participate in active case finding (Testing of Eligible PEDs and adolescents) in the community.
•  Ensure enrolment and treatment initiation of all identified positive clients with proper documentation
• Establish a data base of contact information of service providers for CBO use
• Ensure all pediatric clients, their siblings and other orphans & vulnerable children (OVC) are assessed for C&S needs and promptly linked to community and facility services.
• Ensure timely & effective defaulter tracking, documentation and appropriate referrals of patients.
• Provide technical assistance for efficient community service provision
• Report and refer clients with adverse drug reactions appropriately.
• Provide treatment education, adherence counseling and support to clients and caregivers at the community.
• Initiate active/functional linkage For 2-Way client referrals for wrap-around services and provide feedback To facility staff for care delivery Improvement
• Mobilize Community and support groups, by working with the religious, opinion and community leaders, volunteers, in order to gain support for community activities & linkages.
• Help teams target counseling activities for patients/family members within the community and follow-up activities on various topics.
• Perform other activities as may be assigned by supervising staff.

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

The Community Based Nurse (at OVC CBOs) could be:

• A registered Nurse or Midwife (with both acute care and community or public health background), trained on networking and linkages and knowledgeable about HIV.
• Must be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) and/or National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM)
• Must have a valid license i.e. up to date practicing license with the appropriate national licensing and/or registration board.
• Must reside and living in any of the above listed LGAs Obio-Akpor, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni, Abuaodua, Oyigbo, Eleme, Okirika, Bonny, Ikwerre, Gokana, Andoni, Tai, Etche, Khana, Ahoada East, Degema, Port-Harcourt and Emohua.

Essential Skills:

• Must be willing to work within assigned communities including carrying out home visits and networking with maternity homes, PHCs, private hospitals and TBAs.
• Must have at least 1-2yrs working experience within both clinical and community settings (of which a minimum of 1 year HIV community-based program).
• Knowledgeable about care and support needs of PLHAs and PABAS
• knowledgeable on HIV/AIDS fundamentals and experience with establishing networks to facilitate access to wrap around services for PLHAS
• Must be able to communicate effectively in English and the prevalent local dialect of the community.
• Counseling experience.
• Experience with the clinical management of HIV, OIS and other related conditions, as well as community education, advocacy and mobilization skills.
• Ability to work as a team member and be able to function independently on the job whenever necessary.   
• Must be flexible to deal with both the changing needs of the CBO, affiliated facilities and clients in the community. 
• Must be someone who is committed to upholding the confidentiality of HIV patients at all times.
• Should be reliable, proactive and visionary.
• Must be creative in community program design/planning and implementation towards achieving set goals for children and their families

Desirable:

Local knowledge of specified region/environs and services.