California: More AIDS Care Funds Coming to Riverside, San Bernardino Counties

Federal Ryan White funding for HIV/AIDS primary care and support services for Riverside and San Bernardino counties will increase 11 percent over last year to more than $7 million this fiscal year. The extra $700,000 is significant considering that many other metropolitan areas received smaller increases or reductions in their funding, said Joe Acosta of Palm Springs, who last year chaired the Inland Empire HIV Planning Council.

Acosta said the bipartisan efforts of Reps. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands), Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs) and Joe Baca (D-San Bernardino) helped secure the funds.

The Ryan White grants include formula funds that are based on the estimated number of AIDS cases in an area, as well as supplemental funds that are awarded competitively based on demonstration of critical need and other criteria. The money helps pay for medical and medicine services; case management; substance abuse counseling; transportation; and food and housing for low-income HIV/AIDS patients, said Acosta.

Since the last round of funding, three new AIDS service providers, AIDS Assistance in Palm Springs, Working Wonders in Cathedral City, and a clinic in Coachella, have opened in the Coachella Valley, Acosta said.

At the end of 2005, Riverside County had more than 6,500 residents living with HIV/AIDS, said Victoria Jauregui Burns, chief of the county's HIV/AIDS Program. That figure does not include a significant number of HIV/AIDS patients who come to the Palm Springs area after being diagnosed elsewhere, she said.

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