In the wake of California's struggle to overcome a huge budget shortfall, San Luis Obispo County has eliminated its AIDS program. That leaves much of the work of caring for the county's estimated 200 HIV/AIDS patients in the hands of the nonprofit San Luis Obispo County AIDS Support Network. But SLOCASN has its own funding problems, said Kathleen Karle, program manager for the county health agency.
Edie Kahn, SLOCASN's executive director, said it has about $100,000 in state money to use for direct services to clients and surveillance, but these funds cannot be used for prevention purposes, she said. SLOCASN, which receives money from government, private donations, and annual fundraisers, is in the process of determining how to prioritize its funding.
In addition to offering a health education and risk-reduction program, the network provides benefits counseling, referrals, housing, and food assistance. It also helps clients pay for transportation to health care, laboratory work, and medicine not covered by insurance. Many of SLOCASN's clients are low-income and live in rural communities.
According to Kahn, a key reason the county's funding was reduced proportionally more than other areas is that the region lacks the disease burden of larger metropolitan settings.
The county's AIDS program ran HIV testing clinics and conducted outreach to at-risk groups like IV drug users. It was also responsible for overseeing prevention grants and sending nurses and social workers to the homes of the most critically ill patients. The fear, said Karle, is that without these services, HIV/AIDS incidence will increase.
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