AIDS FUNDS FALLING SHORT FOR NEW CASES; SOUTH FLORIDA AGENCIES CITE WAITING LISTS

With the number of HIV/AIDS patients growing faster than the federal funding, agencies in South Florida say they have had to put people on waiting lists for medical care, counseling and other services and may have to bar some people from service.

Delays long have been a way of life in HIV/AIDS care, but leaders of AIDS organizations said the waiting lists now seen in all three South Florida counties have never been so widespread or long-lasting.

Activists said the cause is federal Ryan White AIDS grants that dipped in Broward and Miami-Dade counties and rose only slightly in Palm Beach County, while the number of new infections with HIV leaped last year by at least 18 percent in all three counties. In addition, donations have been down because of the economy.

The shortfall of dollars became apparent over the summer, nonprofit leaders said.

AIDS Project Florida, Broward's largest agency, exhausted its July funds for medical care before the end of the month and had to put newly diagnosed HIV patients on a waiting list to see a doctor. The list is now at about a dozen.

Broward House, a housing and treatment service, has been forced to leave vacant 14 of 52 beds in its assisted-living facility and start a waiting list of HIV patients who otherwise have nowhere steady to live.

The Comprehensive AIDS Program of Palm Beach County has had three dozen HIV patients waiting to see counselors at each of three offices because of a rush of new clients -- including some from Broward.

"We're telling them, 'Sorry, there's no room at the inn,'" said Norman Kent, executive director of AIDS Project Florida in Fort Lauderdale, formerly Center One. "It's heartbreaking. I can have an outreach worker tell a patient on Monday they're HIV-positive and they won't see a doctor until October."

Broward's situation has grown so tight that the HIV Health Services Planning Council, which divvies up federal grants, voted last week to restrict the number of patients getting services by setting income guidelines for the first time. Affected will be food supplies, alternative medicine, transportation and medical referrals. Dozens or hundreds of patients are expected to be affected.

South Florida has been one of the nation's hotbeds of HIV/AIDS in recent years, attributable mainly to a rise in unprotected sex among young gay men, African-Americans and Hispanics.

Last year, new HIV cases jumped by 44 percent to 519 in Palm Beach County, by 30 percent to 1,086 in Broward and by 18 percent to 1,765 in Miami-Dade.
This year, the rise in cases has not abated.

But the counties' grants in March from the Ryan White program did not keep pace. Broward received $14.7 million, down 1 percent. Miami-Dade received
$27 million, down a fraction. Palm Beach County got $9.9 million, up 7 percent. Ryan White, designed for people with no other coverage, is the biggest single source of money for HIV care aside from private insurance and Medicaid.

The grants are based not on new HIV cases but on the number of HIV patients who progress to full-blown AIDS. That number has risen only slightly because of the effectiveness of medications.

Housing agencies in Broward took a hard hit because a Ryan White housing program cut the county's grant by one-fifth. Broward House, the largest such agency, normally has a waiting list for its 52 beds but now has only enough money to house 38 clients.

"We've got more patients to treat and we're getting less money for them,"
said Kathleen Cannon, a services director.

AIDS officials said they expect next year's grant from the Ryan White program to be flat, at best, based on the budget proposals of President Bush.

"We haven't seen it this bad before," said Yolette Bonnet, executive director of CAP in Palm Beach County. "We don't want to have waiting lists.
But we can't turn people away."

Her agency's office in Delray Beach has seen dozens of Broward patients trying to avoid long waits for appointments. Bonnet said she asked county officials last month to look for more money and to contact Broward.

A report done for the Broward planning council found that nonprofit agencies do a poor job getting clients eligible for private insurance or Medicaid and collecting that money. The report said many do not spend money efficiently.

Also, county officials have urged the agencies to try harder to raise private donations, so as not to be so dependent on government grants.

Good advice, said Kent, but not a total answer.

"You can't fight AIDS by having a car wash every month," Kent said. "We're not getting enough out of Washington." Bob LaMendola can be reached at blamendola@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4526.