Subject: AIDS junket in Virgin Islands denounced by ACT UP
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 16:12:45 EDT

For Immediate Release
May 19, 2000
Contacts:
Michael Petrelis, 415-621-6267
Wayne Turner,    202-547-9404

       AIDS JUNKET TO U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS FUNDED BY TAXPAYERS;

       ACTIVISTS SLAM 'FUN-IN-THE-SUN' GREED OF AIDS EXECUTIVES

Washington, DC - An AIDS conference to be held June 1-4 at the Marriott
Frenchman's Reef Resort in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, has been condemned by
activists angry that attendees will be spending Ryan White CARE Act dollars
allocated for treatment services for AIDS patients on travel and luxurious
lodging expenses.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an arm of Health and
Human Services, manages more than $1 billion appropriated for Ryan White
programs. Dr. Joseph O'Neill, director of HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau is a keynote
speaker at the Approaches to the Treatment of HIV Disease in Internationally
Resource Poor Settings. O'Neill has reportedly sent a letter to Ryan White
funded AIDS agencies encouraging them to attend and use grant money to pay
for the trip.

The federal strategist for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Ernest C.
Hopkins, forcefully defended the conference in an email wide circulated on
the Internet. "Rather than see the trip to the Virgin Islands through the
prism of those junkets that physicians and politicians take on a regular
basis to resorts in tropical locations - I think [we] should view the trip as
an opportunity to see what health care delivery really looks like on the
ground in a developing area," Hopkins wrote. "The indigenous population is
significantly underserved with high quality HIV-related health care . . .
[and there are] disproportionate HIV infection and AIDS rates in the Virgin
Islands."

Such reasoning was denounced by Wayne Turner, a spokesperson for ACT UP
Washington, DC. "While $2.2 million in Ryan White funding for Puerto Rico was
funneled into political campaigns and luxury automobiles for bureaucrats, and
fraud investigations continue, HRSA turned a blind eye to the problem,"
Turner said. "While AIDS executives and HRSA relax on the beaches of St.
Thomas, greasing the wheels of the AIDS gravy train, people with AIDS are
jeopardized without adequate medication, food and housing. We demand
Congressional accountability so that public AIDS funds actually pay for
patient services."

Attention on the conference comes the same week IRS 990 tax returns for the
SF AIDS Foundation for FY 1998 were posted on the group's web site, showing
executive director Patricia Christen made $201,320.

"The AIDS groups always have enough money to pay six-figure salaries and pass
off 'conferences' as vital exchanges of information, thanks to taxpayer
largess, and we want such avarice to end," said Turner.

A spokesperson for the www.AIDS-Statistics.com web site, Michael Petrelis,
noted the number of AIDS cases in the Virgin Islands is declining. "According
to the latest yearly AIDS epidemiological survey from the Centers for Disease
Control there were 98 new AIDS cases in 1997 and 35 new AIDS cases during
1998," he said. "Too bad the conference isn't about AIDS caseloads
decreasing, while AIDS executive salaries skyrocket to new heights."

The Ryan White CARE Act must pass reauthorization this year and programs
funded through HRSA are supposed to only provide essential direct health care
and related services to low-income AIDS patients. Lobbyists for AIDS service
organizations have vigorously opposed proposals by activists to rein in
abuses of federal AIDS funds. Activists want increased oversight, salary
caps, and random audits of service providers.

  #  #  #

Michael Petrelis
 <A HREF="http://www.aids-statistics.com/">Welcome to AIDS-STATISTICS</A>
www.AIDS-statistics.com
2215-R Market Street, #413
San Francisco, CA 94114

================================================================================

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 12:33:03 EDT
Subject: AIDS activists denounce junket

for immediate release   5/19/00

contact: Wayne Turner
ACT UP Washington, DC
(202) 547-9404
www.actupdc.org

ACTIVISTS DENOUNCE AIDS 'CONFERENCE' IN RESORT TOWN:
FEDERALLY FUNDED FUN-IN-THE-SUN LEAVES AIDS PATIENTS OUT IN THE COLD

Washington, DC -- Responding to concerns raised by AIDS activists, members of
the US House of Representatives Commerce Committee are investigating an AIDS
'conference' to be held at a Caribbean island resort next month, using US
taxpayer dollars earmarked for the treatment and care of poor people living
with HIV and AIDS.

The invitation-only 'Clinical Update Conference', convened by the Health
Resources Services Administration (HRSA), a federal agency within the
Department of Health and Human Services, will be held in the US Virgin Island
of St. Thomas from June 1 - June 4 at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef Resort.
Invitees have reportedly been encouraged by HRSA official Dr. Joseph O'Neill
to attend using Ryan White CARE Act funds.

"While bureaucrats plan their weekend junket on the beaches of St. Thomas,
people with AIDS continue to suffer without adequate medication, food, and
housing." states Wayne Turner, spokesperson for ACT UP/DC.  "We demand
accountability, so that AIDS funds actually pay for patient services.  This
is an epidemic, and yet they're greasing the wheels of the AIDS gravy train
with sun tan oil."

The CARE Act, up for re-authorization this year, is supposed to provide
health care and related services to low-income HIV/AIDS patients.  A General
Accounting Office audit released earlier this year revealed vast funding
inequities, inflated salaries over $200,000 for some AIDS executives,
substandard HIV/AIDS care for women, African Americans, and Hispanics,  and
several instances of fraud and embezzlement.

Lobbyists for the AIDS Service industry have vigorously opposed proposals by
activists to curb abuses of federal AIDS funding, including salary caps,
increased oversight, and random audits of service providers.

for more information, please visit our website at www.actupdc.org, and
www.aids-statistics.com for state/territory epidemological reports

For HRSA events:  www.hrsa.dhhs.gov/Newsroom/calendar.htm