Virginia, Local Funds to Keep AIDS Clinic Open

Whitman-Walker Clinic's Arlington, Va., facility -- which was slated to close its doors on Oct. 1 as part of a financial restructuring -- will remain open through the end of 2006 under an agreement announced yesterday.

Alexandria, the Virginia Department of Health, and Fairfax and Arlington counties have pledged to cover 75 percent ($590,000) of the facility's $800,000 budget gap, while Whitman-Walker will provide 25 percent ($210,000). Most of that will come from a $200,000 bequest recently received from a Northern Virginia benefactor, clinic officials said. The facility has a $2.2 million budget.

Under the memo of understanding, the clinic must submit monthly reports to the jurisdictions and will only be reimbursed for actual expenses.

Public officials said they were angered when Whitman-Walker, which has been struggling to stabilize its finances, did not consult them before announcing in June that it would close its suburban facilities, along with reducing services at its District clinic. Spokesperson Kim Mills said Whitman-Walker had been working under a "great deal of pressure" to solve its money problems.

Yesterday's announcement puts on hold an offer by the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation to take over the Arlington facility, which served almost 1,400 clients last year.

No such reprieve, however, is on the horizon for Whitman-Walker's clinic in Takoma Park, Md., which is also set to shut down on Oct. 1. Suburban Maryland officials said they are working to shift that facility's 690 patients to other local HIV/AIDS clinics.

Back to other news for August 25, 2005