LSU-CrescentCare Sexual Health Center: An inter-organizational partnership initiative to improve access to sexual health services in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
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Stephanie N Taylor 1 , Rebecca A Lillis 1 , Ronald D Wilcox 1 2 , Laura Damioli 1 3 , David H Martin 1 , Alice Riener 2 , Julio E Figueroa 1 , M Jacques Nsuami 1 *
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1 Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, USA2 Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA; USA3 Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Objectives: To describe a partnership between CrescentCare and Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Medicine that created a new Sexual Health Clinic in New Orleans, and to assess the health services that patients sought and received at the new clinic in the opening months of its creation.
Methods: When the new clinic opened, signs were posted on New Orleans streets, flyers were placed in selected emergency rooms and healthcare facilities, radio and bus stop advertisements were purchased, and the CrescentCare website was updated with the addition of a page for the new clinic. The new clinic opened on 15 June 2015. A survey questionnaire was administered to 706 patients who visited the new clinic from 1 October 2015 to 30 December 2015 to capture 3 quality improvement patient indicators. Their medical records were retrospectively reviewed to assess the services they came to seek at the new clinic.
Results: Patients were 64.7% men, 35.0% women, 0.3% transgender women, 64.9% black, 94.6% non-Hispanic, 35.4% men who have sex with women, 23.4% men who have sex with men, and 29.5% women who have sex with men. Patients most frequently learned about the new clinic from friends. They mostly chose the new clinic because of the walk-in availability of services and the convenience of its location. Reasons for the visits included sexually transmitted infection (STI) symptoms, STI screening, STI treatment, STI contact, and laboratory test results. Past STI histories were highly frequent, as well as the prevalence of positive STI tests the day of the visit.
Conclusions: The LSU-CrescentCare Sexual Health Center is a model of a successful community-driven, public-private collaborative initiative aimed at ensuring that in the New Orleans region, everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve their best possible sexual health, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, income, education, or zip code.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, Volume 22, Issue 5, October 2025, Article No: em684

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/16748

Publication date: 01 Sep 2025

Online publication date: 13 Aug 2025

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