Washington Blade - June 23, 2006
Elizabeth A. Perry

The Northern Virginia location has since expanded its hours and services, while critics contend that the void left by Whitman-Walker's exit from Maryland is creating problems.

D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At-Large), who is gay, said the District has had to shoulder more than its fair share of HIV and AIDS care.

"The state of Maryland has to step up to the plate," he said. "We know the residents of Maryland are coming into the District to use the services of the Clinic. Other privately supported clinics are seeing patients, but there needs to be state and county support, too. The District has made it easier for Maryland not to meet its services."

John Hammond, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, declined to respond directly to Catania's criticism, but said Maryland provided $4.9 million to the state's AIDS Administration for fiscal year 2006, which ends June 30.

Hammond also pointed to the state's AIDS Administration website, www.dhmh.state.md.us/AIDS, which lists myriad programs and services offered to state residents.

During fiscal year 2006, Montgomery County received $768,030 for HIV and AIDS services, Hammond said. Of that amount, $201,788 came from state general funds and $566,242 came from the federal Ryan White CARE Act, a national program that funds health and social programs for those living with HIV and AIDS.

And during calendar year 2005, total funding for the Maryland AIDS Drug Assistance Program was $5.09 million, he said.

"I hope that shows good faith that the state of Maryland is reaching out to those people with HIV," Hammond said.

Kim Mills, director of communications for Whitman-Walker, said that when the Takoma Park clinic closed on Sept. 30, most of the Whitman-Walker patients opted to continue their care in D.C. at the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center and Max Robinson Center. Those who did not wish to continue with Whitman-Walker were assisted in finding other medical care in Maryland with providers in Prince Georges, Prince William and Montgomery counties that receive funds from the Ryan White CARE Act.

"Before we closed anything, we surveyed clients to see what their preference would be. Most of them wanted to continue with Whitman-Walker either in Northwest or Southeast Washington."

David Shippee, executive director of Chase Brexton Health Services in Baltimore, said that since there already were other Ryan White providers for people with HIV, the funds that were allotted for their care at Whitman-Walker were redistributed to other primary care providers in suburban Maryland to meet their needs.

"Our involvement came when one of those providers needed additional staffing to meet the needs of additional patients," he said.

This year, Shippee said the total number of patients seen at Chase Brexton facilities is about 8,000. It has seen 1,700 patients with HIV. After the Takoma Park Whitman-Walker Clinic site closed, Shippee said there was an increase of 115 patients with HIV coming in for treatment.

"On average, we see 35 new patients a month across all the sites," he said. He said the clinic will open another full-service facility in Howard County, Md. in mid-July.

Crisis triggers change

Early in 2005, the Whitman-Walker Clinic experienced a financial crisis, which included the inability to meet one payroll cycle last spring. The Clinic announced it would have to make $2.5 million in budget cuts, and possibly close its offices in Virginia and Takoma Park, Md., as part of a restructuring plan to restore financial stability.

A $3.6 million emergency assistance grant from the D.C. City Council, as well as donations and pledges of support from individuals, corporations, foundations and local governments, enabled the Virginia office to remain open.

"We're doing better than we were a year ago at this time," said Mills. "The city is paying its contracts in a more timely manner. We still have a lot of challenges ahead, such as increasing our client base and becoming less reliant on public funding."

The Northern Virginia clinic remains open with enough money to make it until the end of 2006, when its building lease is up. Clinic officials are looking for an alternative site, and health care services are not expected to be interrupted, Mills said.

Mills said the Alexandria government, along with the governments of Arlington and Fairfax counties, pledged $800,000 to cover operational expenses for about two years, and the Clinic has expanded its hours and services to meet the needs of patients in northern Virginia.

"We have been offering expanded primary care in Virginia and new hours for STD testing," she said. "We are conducting an aggressive outreach to build up clientele and to let people know the Virginia clinic is still operating. There has been some confusion in the community about which clinic closed. Virginia has never stopped operating."

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