ACCESS Network Moves AIDS/HIV Assistance Office

In a shift aimed at helping it pursue its mission more efficiently, the South Carolina AIDS service organization ACCESS Network Inc. recently moved its offices from Hilton Head to a more centralized location in Cherry Point. "We made the decision to move here because the bulk of our clients are from Beaufort County and Jasper County," said the organization's Stan Stolarcyk. "That trip into the island every morning was affecting our operation."

The group traces its roots to 1987. Operating as the Lowcountry AIDS Task Force, its members worked out of their cars to get the word out about AIDS. "It was a true, community-based movement," said Stolarcyk. "And it remains that way because we rely on the community for all kinds of support -- financial and volunteers, as well as moral support." ACCESS evolved from those efforts five years later, at a time when the public's perception of the disease began to change. "[AIDS is] no longer a hospice-type situation, but has become a manageable condition. But long-term [survival] is still questionable because people develop resistance to the drug cocktails." As the area's population increases, so does its number of AIDS cases, Stolarcyk said. ACCESS gets help from other local organizations, such as Second Helpings, which provides produce and bread, and the Lowcountry Food Bank. Last year ACCESS delivered enough food to prepare 157,000 meals. It serves more than 200 clients from Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton and Colleton counties, and it maintains a second office in Hampton. South Carolina ranks eighth in the nation for AIDS cases per 100,000 people -evidence, Stolarcyk said, of how much work remains to be done.

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