AIDS CARE: New Community Programs Offer Resources
Thanks to a $30,000 grant from the California Office of AIDS, Solano County will be launching a mobile HIV-testing center. If county supervisors approve the grant at a meeting tomorrow, the van will help locate "the hundreds of Solanoans who are thought to be infected with the virus that causes AIDS but are undiagnosed." According to the Vacaville Reporter, as of April the county had 988 cases of AIDS; "[h]alf of these were among intravenous drug users." However, "county health officials estimate there will be a lot more AIDS cases in the future," as an "estimated 1,560 people countywide are thought to be infected with HIV." The van will be a key component of "the county's HIV testing outreach," especially in Vallejo, which has a high incidence of communicable diseases (Scheibe, 5/4).
A Place To Go
Eight homeless AIDS patients from the East Bay area now have a home with the opening of Concord House, "the first newly constructed housing development for people living with AIDS in southern Alameda County." The Alameda Times Star reports that "Hayward has the third-highest rate of AIDS in Alameda County, just behind Oakland and Berkeley." The new facility will offer "comprehensive supportive services including peer counseling, benefits advocacy, legal assistance and health services" (Casey, 5/4).