AEGiS-PRn: AIDS Consortium Provides Emergency Assistance to Over 200 HIV Positive Persons

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

AIDS Consortium Provides Emergency Assistance to Over 200 HIV Positive Persons

PR Newswire; Wednesday September 16, 1998

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- In its efforts to increase response time and improve direct services to people living with HIV, the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium has consolidated its Direct Emergency Financial Assistance Program. This program, prioritized by HIV positive persons, assists low income people living with HIV and AIDS with financial emergencies. Funds from the program are used to help prevent homelessness by aiding individuals with new rental expenses, past due rent, and/or essential utilities. In addition, funds may be used for out of pocket emergency medical and medication expenses, emergency food needs or emergency transportation.

According to Blair Durant, President of the Board of Directors of the Consortium, "The consolidation of the Direct Emergency Financial Assistance program is long overdue. This program works to maximize the number of HIV positive people who are now eligible and in need. At the same time the program is being run on a shoestring administrative overhead."

To date the program has awarded over 200 grants totaling more than $80,000 in assistance to persons living with HIV and AIDS. Of that funding, approximately 60 percent has been used to prevent at risk HIV positive persons from becoming homeless. The majority of the remaining grants have been used to pay for past utility bills for clients facing shut-offs.

Perhaps most importantly, however, is the improvement in the speed at which these funds are distributed. In the past, clients would have to wait up to three months to receive emergency financial assistance from similar programs. With the consolidated program, housed at the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium, funds are distributed within two to seven days of the receipt of a completed application. According to the Consortium, program funds may not be used for personal items such as furniture, refrigerators, and air conditioners. Other resources are currently being sought to assist people living with HIV to alleviate these expenses frequently associated with these high cost items, often necessitated by their HIV infection (refrigerators for medication, etc.).

SOURCE: Philadelphia AIDS Consortium

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