Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - March 15, 2004
Alison Soltau, Staff Writer
Seegers is one of 750 patients who rely on the $4 million in Ryan White federal funds given to San Francisco to provide the acupuncture, herbal treatments and massage that ward off the often-virulent side effects of strong AIDS drugs. The funds target cities across the country most devastated by the AIDS epidemic.
But with news that the federal government has cut 12 percent of the funds to San Francisco, hundreds of city with AIDS say they are left with drugs that prolong their life but not with the therapies that preserve its quality.
"Imagine having nausea and fatigue every day of your life," said Seegers, who was diagnosed with HIV and Hepatitis B in 1990. "If this program gets shut down, I will quit my drugs because it's not worth it.
"The acupuncture and the herbs allow me to get out of my house and just live," Seegers said.
Seegers is one of 234 affected patients at the Immunization Enhancement Project in the Castro District.
The project is losing all of its Ryan White funding, along with scores of other city clinics that provide alternative AIDS therapies. Other frontline services affected include meals, skilled nursing and legal advice. The City is lobbing the federal government to reconsider the cuts.
While the budget trim aims to target only peripheral services such as acupuncture, advocates of alternative therapies say they provide real hope for a better life.
The acupuncture treatments bolster the immune system. Both therapies help with the effects of hepatitis and safeguard against pneumonia, clinicians say.
"I am sure this place has saved my life at least twice in the past year by stopping pneumonia from filling up inside me," said Richard Kerr, who is staving off the effects of drug induced neuropathy. "These [budget] cuts are very silly economics. These therapies allow me to live independently at home. I could end up in a nursing home now, and they would have to pay to care for me."
Elyse Graham, IEP's executive director, said that about 25 percent of her patients who do not take AIDS drugs -- either because of ethical reasons or because their body can no longer tolerate them -- rely on the program as their most basic form of treatment.
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