The Miami Herald, Inc.; Saturday, December 7, 1991
Rebecca Ross Albers, Herald Staff Writer

"It was a very frustrating time. There was little we could do to treat the disease," he said.

Today, the frustrations have been eased a bit by new medicines and knowledge, but Wiewora, 36, director of the county's AIDS clinics, still faces an uphill battle. He said there are now 1,900 cases of full-blown AIDS reported in the county.

"It never gets easier. You learn a lot of skills to cope as you go along," he said. Now Wiewora is embarking on a new path in his career as an AIDS specialist. He has closed his private practice in Palm Beach Gardens and eventually will leave the county clinics. Since last week, Wiewora has been treating patients as medical director of a private AIDS clinic called the Palm Beach Connection, located at 3345 Burns Rd. near Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.

The clinic, one of 35 nationwide, is owned by Caremark, a division of Baxter Health Care Corp. It is the company's first HIV and AIDS clinic in South Florida, although more are planned in Dade and Broward counties, said company spokesman Daniel Skidmore.

Skidmore said Caremark picked Palm Beach County for its first clinic largely because of Wiewora. "We were very impressed with the contributions Dr. Wiewora was making," he said.

Wiewora will be honored at 1 p.m. today at the Governor's Club, 777 S. Flagler Dr., West Palm Beach, during concluding ceremonies of World AIDS Week. Dr. Mervyn Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, will present Wiewora with an award.

Wiewora, who for now continues to treat patients at the county clinic, said he will see his private practice patients at the Palm Beach Connection. Medicaid patients also will be accepted.

He took the job with Caremark, he said, because it freed him from worrying about the administrative details of running a practice and gave him more leeway in treating patients. The clinic also offers psychological and social services, a pharmacy, testing and research opportunities.

"A lot of my ideas went into setting up the clinic and (Caremark) was willing to do them. There's not a lot of private interest" in AIDS clinics, he said.

Wiewora said the cost of running a clinic is high and it is difficult to find staff. "Burnout is a big problem," he said.

Treatment for AIDS patients is improving because of more options available to physicians, he said, but in terms of the number of new cases, it's getting worse.

Wiewora said the recent publicity about basketball great Magic Johnson, who revealed he has HIV, helped bring the disease to the forefront once again. "The day after his announcement, 12 heterosexual men who admitted they had frequented singles bars came in for testing. People are finally hearing that you can get the disease. But when you know how to prevent the disease you have to translate that knowledge into behavior," he said.

CAPTION: PHOTO Dr. Ron Wiewora looks over his patients' files in his new office (s)

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