Hiring 10 additional school nurses and seven new staffers to work with HIV patients is the Mecklenburg County Health Department's top priority this year, interim Health Director Wynn Mabry said Tuesday at a county commissioners' budget workshop.

Last year, a task force recommended hiring additional staff members to work with HIV-positive people in the county. However, when they approved the budget for the current year, commissioners added only half the recommended number.

County staff told the commissioners Tuesday that adding the 10 school nurses, four HIV case managers, and two nurses and a nurse practitioner to provide clinical HIV services would cost almost $1 million next year. County Manager Harry Jones told commissioners last month that the county must close a $35 million budget gap just to continue providing current services.

The seven HIV staff members are needed to help Mecklenburg deal with a new HIV infection rate that is double that of the state. "We're losing the battle. You can almost say one person a day is sentenced to an early death," Mabry said. He warned that the number of new cases this year is but "the tip of the iceberg," and he noted that epidemiologists say up to two-thirds of new HIV cases may be undiagnosed.

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