CONTACTS: Ged Kenslea (CA), +1.323.308.1833 or mobile 323.791.5526 [email protected]
Dawn Averill (FL), +1.850.470.8071 or mobile 850.341.3956 [email protected]
PENSACOLA (September 15, 2014) – Northwest Florida gained a new resource in its fight to control HIV/AIDS locally last week with the opening of the new AHF Pensacola Healthcare Center, a full-service expert clinic with an attached pharmacy that will serve the Pensacola community with cutting-edge medicine five days per week. The clinic also offers extended hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Dr. Barbara Wade, an esteemed HIV specialist physician who has been serving the Pensacola community since 1987, heads the new facility. Three mid-level providers from Wade’s private practice –Ethan Rhone, Will Vaughan, and Jennifer Buck, who are all PA-C certified – will be serving the community alongside Dr. Wade through the new healthcare center.
The full-service AHF Pharmacy connected to the clinic will also be open on Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. AHF Pharmacy sites can fill any prescription, and 96 cents of every dollar earned through the pharmacies support HIV/AIDS care in 34 countries around the world where AHF serves over 344,000 people.
AHF PENSACOLA HEALTHCARE CENTER
4300 Bayou Blvd., Suite 17D
Pensacola, FL 32503
Hours
Monday: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Tuesday: 8:00 am – 6:30 pm
Wednesday: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Thursday: 6:30 am – 5:00 pm
Friday: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Head Physician: Dr. Barbara Wade
Phone: (850) 476 – 3131
Fax: (850) 476 – 4848
“AHF has been proudly serving Pensacola with HIV/AIDS care since 1999 – as well as the Florida Panhandle as a whole through our Positive Healthcare Disease Management Program and mobile healthcare center – but setting up an established clinic with a trusted local expert like Dr. Wade will allow us to impact communities on a whole new level,” said Michael Kahane, Southern Region Bureau Chief for AHF. “We’re thrilled to be teaming up with an already-accomplished team with a proven track record of reliable care, and to offer the premier level of service our partnership will offer to an even wider spectrum of Floridians.”
“Caring for patients with HIV/AIDS these many years has been immensely rewarding,” said Dr. Wade. “I am happy to be teaming up with AHF to do even more and add the convenience of additional services in one location. We have been loosely partnered for more than 15 years and I am looking forward greater improvements and a future working together. ”
Escambia County, where Pensacola is located, shoulders the heaviest HIV/AIDS burden in Northwest Florida, according to the Northwest Florida HIV/AIDS Consortium’s 2013 report on the epidemic in Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton Counties. After all surveillance data for that year had been calculated, Escambia accounted for 73% of reported adult AIDS cases and 68% of reported adult HIV cases, more than five times the numbers facing the second-most impacted county of Okaloosa. Those numbers do not include cases reported from within the state’s Department of Corrections.
Learn more about AHF Healthcare Centers at www.hivcare.org.