In the News

Noting that the District is the "epicenter" of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation on Thursday opened a free treatment clinic in the 2100 block of K Street, at the gateway to Georgetown.

The opening of the AHF Blair Underwood Healthcare Center, named for the Hollywood actor and AIDS activist, was attended by U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and representatives from the Obama administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the March of Dimes.

"But no one is here from the District of Columbia health department," said Michael Weinstein, the foundation's director. Weinstein said the foundation, which bills itself as the nation's largest nonprofit HIV/AIDS health-care provider, came to the District because "it's the epicenter of the epidemic of the United States."

The city's infection rate, 3 percent, is the nation's worst, according to a study this year by the District's HIV/AIDS Administration.

Weinstein said the city's top health officials "told us we were not needed. We have enough health-care providers. They would not allow us to participate in its ADAP program," the federal AIDS Drug Assistance Program that provides free medication to patients.

Weinstein said the city has begun to do a remarkable job in combating the disease after years of stagnation, but the "system of care is faltering in some respects. At the end of the day it ought to be enough that the rate of infection in Washington, D.C., is higher than Lagos, Nigeria."

Michael Kharfen, a spokesman for the District's HIV/AIDS Administration, refuted Weinstein's account, saying that the city welcomed the foundation to its network of medical care providers. He said he could not immediately comment further.

Weinstein said city officials took issue with an advertisement the foundation circulated in the District several months ago. It included a picture of former president George W. Bush peering out a window and saying AIDS is D.C.'s Katrina.

"If we need to be a voice to shake up the bureaucracy in D.C., then we will do that, but we prefer cooperation," Weinstein said.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation serves more than 100,000 clients globally, according to its Web site. The 15-room clinic in Suite 606 at 2141 K St. has four examination beds and a single doctor, Roxanne Cox-Iyamu.

"We're hoping to get a maximum of 300 to 500 people," said Cox-Iyamu, the clinic's medical director. "We have the ability to bring more people on board." In addition, five Magic Johnson exam vans will roam the city in an effort to test 40 to 50 people per day.

Underwood, who is widely known in the black community, said he lent star power to the clinic to draw clients. On a billboard promoting AIDS awareness in Los Angeles, where the foundation is headquartered, Underwood implores viewers to "Man Up" and get tested for free.

"I need to talk to those men who are out there dating women who think this doesn't concern them," Underwood said. "It does."

Underwood's participation is a key to the clinic's success, Weinstein said. "There are not that many people of his stature who are willing to put their face out there and their name out there for this issue," he said.

Lewis said he supported the clinic's opening because "we must find a way to say to all our citizens, especially our young people . . . that we must do what we can to control the spread of this disease." 

- Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/24/AR2009092402865.html

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