Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 00:57:34 -0500
From: PRCenter@aol.com

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News from the
L.A. GAY & LESBIAN COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER
1625 N. Schrader Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

PH: 213-993-7400
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Contact:   Jim Key, Dir. of Public Info                      
               213-860-7357

AIDS Patients at Goodman Clinic Near Capacity -- 
L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center To Open Additional Clinic

Goodman Clinic Sees Dramatic Increase in the Number of 
Patients in Advanced Stages of HIV Disease
     
     LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2, 1996 -- The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community
Services Center today announced it will open an additional HIV/AIDS clinic,
adjacent
to a local hospital, to treat the growing number of patients in its Jeffrey
Goodman
Special Care Clinic who are in advanced stages of HIV disease.  
       The new Clinic, modeled after the Gay & Lesbian Center's Goodman
Clinic, will
be specifically designed to serve those in the gay and lesbian community with
AIDS-defining conditions.  The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center is the only Los
Angeles
organization exclusively targeting the HIV medical needs of gay and lesbian
people. 
At least 80% of all HIV infections in L.A. County are among gay and bisexual
men.
     Funding for the new Clinic will come from money raised in the California
AIDS
Ride and a grant from the County AIDS Program Office.
     "We now treat an average of 60 new people a month who learn they are HIV
positive at the same time they learn they have full-blown AIDS," said Juan
Ledesma,
director of health services.  "That, combined with the growing number of
existing
clients who have progressed to advanced stages of the disease, has created an
overwhelming demand for services that are beginning to exceed our current
facility's
capacity for quality care."
     The increasing number of Goodman Clinic clients with full-blown AIDS
mirrors the
findings of recent research by the National Cancer Institute.  Although AIDS
typically
takes five to 10 years to develop, the research found that about half of the
600,000
Americans infected with HIV already have an AIDS diagnosis.  Hundreds of
thousands of those infected with HIV in the mid-eighties are now developing
full-blown AIDS.
     With conservative estimates of more than 50,000 cases of HIV infection
in L.A.
County, Ledesma and other health care experts are concerned about the ability
of
local health care providers to meet the growing demand -- especially for the
indigent
and the uninsured.
     Until May of 1995, patients of the Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic
who
progressed to advanced stages of HIV disease were referred to L.A. County's
5P21
AIDS clinic, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, or other medical facilities.
     "As we saw the numbers of our patients with full blown AIDS grow, more
and
more of them told us they wanted to continue to receive their medical care in
the
same comfortable, gay and lesbian environment," said Ledesma.  "Patients have
developed a rapport and familiarity with staff that enhances the quality of
their care. 
The new Clinic will allow us to continue to provide this continuity of care."
     Because treatment of patients in advanced stages of HIV disease requires
diagnostic and treatment services that can only be found in a hospital or
hospital-type
setting, a site adjacent to a local hospital is being sought.  The site of
the new Clinic
will largely be based on the convenience of the location to patients, as
determined by
their zip codes.
     "With the numbers of HIV-infected people on the rise, there is a
critical need for
more treatment facilities.  I'm thrilled to see the Gay & Lesbian Center
increase the
availability of medical care, especially for the community most in need,"
said Gary
Costa, Executive Director of Being Alive. 
     The Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic provides the most comprehensive,
"one- stop" system for HIV/AIDS care in the nation, offering gay and lesbian
people
the widest array of educational, medical, legal and psycho-social services
available at
any one organization -- all at minimal or no cost.  It is also home to the
Community
Unity for AIDS Care program, a partnership of 20 HIV/AIDS organizations and
Stadtlanders Pharmacy, providing free mail-order pharmaceuticals to people
with HIV
through the state AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
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