Washington Blade - June 20, 2008
Lou Chibbaro Jr

Clinic officials said nearly all of the 30 employees who work in the headquarters building, including Whitman-Walker Chief Executive Officer Don Blanchon, will move into the Clinic's sprawling Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center located two blocks away at 1701 14th Street, N.W.

The sale of the headquarters building to developer JBG Companies takes place immediately, but employees won't be required to vacate the premises until the end of the year, officials said. "This sale finally closes the door on the financial problems the Clinic faced in 2005," said James Sandman, chair of the Clinic's board of directors.

"While our new business model has proven successful, this sale will allow us to move forward faster and focus on our plans for the future - a greater focus on quality primary care for the underserved, enhanced and better integrated services, and expansion of our specialty care for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community and those living with HIV/AIDS," Sandman said.

Blanchon noted that the Clinic's decision to lay off about 50 employees earlier this year as part of an ongoing staff reorganization ensures that there will be more than enough space at the Taylor Center and two other Clinic facilities to accommodate the employees displaced from the headquarters building.

Blanchon said the Lesbian Services Program would "absolutely" remain a part of the Clinic, but it will now be integrated into the Clinic's medical services system based in the Taylor Center rather than continue to operate out of a separate office, as it has in the headquarters building. He said the Lesbian Service Program's two full-time staff members will be retained.

He said the Clinic also has closed its on-site laboratory located in the basement of the Taylor Center, which will open up more space for Clinic program and administrative employees displaced by the sale of the S Street building.

In a move that could raise concern among community activists, Blanchon also announced the Clinic was phasing out its food bank program for people with HIV and was "restructuring" its longstanding Lesbian Services Program. Both programs have operated out of the headquarters building.

Blanchon said the Lesbian Services Program would "absolutely" remain a part of the Clinic, but it will now be integrated into the Clinic's medical services system based in the Taylor Center rather than continue to operate out of a separate office, as it has in the headquarters building. He said the Lesbian Service Program's two full-time staff members will be retained.

He said the changes are in keeping with the Clinic's decision three years ago to become a primary medical care provider, with the aim of improving basic medical care for a wide range of clients in addition to its mission of providing care for people with HIV and AIDS.

"We have hired a full-time gynecologist, allowing us to offer those services for the first time," he said. "And we have named a women's care coordinator, who will help women maximize the health care services they can receive both inside and outside the Clinic," Blanchon said.

Leslie Calman, executive director of the D.C. based Mautner Project, a national lesbian health advocacy organization, said lesbian health advocates are watching with interest to see how Whitman-Walker's changes in the Lesbian Services Program will play out.

"The community has been nervous about seeing a shift in Whitman-Walker," Calman said. "While respecting its need to be fiscally sound, there is deep concern that the Lesbian Services Program will suffer."

Blanchon said the Clinic's food bank will continue to operate until the end of the year, at which time it will be restructured from its current "pantry" type food give-away program into a nutritional program with a "medical-based approach" for clients.

He said some of the 300 clients currently using the food bank will be referred to other organizations that dispense food on an emergency basis. The Clinic will provide other clients with gift cards to grocery stores.

Craig Shniderman, executive director of Food & Friends, the Washington area's largest provider of food for homebound people with HIV and other diseases, said Food & Friends will step in to help clients displaced by the Whitman-Walker restructuring. But Shniderman said Food & Friends recently received a reduction in funding from the federal Ryan White CARE Act program, which will result in fewer resources for taking on new clients.

"This happens to be a bad confluence of events for the Whitman-Walker food bank to be closing at a time when we're seeing our own financial challenges," he said. "But we will certainly do everything possible."

Schniderman said the D.C. City Council provides additional city funding to offset part of the federal funding reduction for Food & Friends, but the city funding won't be available until October.

Blanchon said some of the proceeds from the sale of the Clinic's headquarters building will be used to upgrade the Clinic's web site to allow clients to better access medical care, including prescription renewals.

080620
WB080608

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2008. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2008. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .