San Francisco Regrouping Care for People With HIV
San Francisco is closing its Office of AIDS and integrating the office's functions into the city Department of Public Health, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Jimmy Loyce, the director of the office, said the consolidation is the final step in a process that has taken several years. The fiscal duties of the office last year were integrated into the health department's financial branch.
Loyce, who is stepping down with no replacement, said the department will not lay off any of the office's remaining 169 employees.
The office is responsible for about $65 million in AIDS programs, mostly funded through federal grants. Loyce said the city expects to lose $1.5 million from built-in reductions in each of the next three years.
Mark Cloutier, executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said the integration marks an opportunity for Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) and health director Mitch Katz to streamline care delivery for San Francisco residents with HIV and other medical problems.
Cloutier said, "It's important that people get care for other chronic diseases at the same place they get HIV care" (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/9).