Connecticut: AIDS Services Slip Away

The lives of people with HIV/AIDS in Hartford and New Haven could get more complicated due to cuts to the region's federal Ryan White AIDS funds. The national Ryan White reallocations made earlier this year left HIV/AIDS organizations in the two cities with only half the money they had anticipated.

Yvette Bello, executive director of Latino Community Services, called the slash in funds "devastating," especially for non-English speaking clients. A waiting list for the 21-year-old program is rapidly forming, she said. Home care, to provide companionship or a break for caregivers, is no longer available. Transportation services, such as for medical services or for addiction support groups, are greatly restricted.

Spanish translators have virtually disappeared, said clinician Barbarita Pieve. "[Patients] come back and I have to be calling some of their doctors trying to get more information," she said. "If they don't bring someone with them, they can't communicate." An assistant who helped bring groceries to Pieve's clients was also lost to the cuts.

With a $160,000 loss to Mid-Fairfield AIDS Project's $700,000 budget, about 200 people with HIV/AIDS in the greater Norwalk area "have nowhere to turn to for support or, more important, for medical care and medication, which could mean death for some," said Stuart Lane, MFAP's executive director.

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