Officials with AIDS Outreach Center of Tarrant County announced today that the agency will be closing its Arlington office, effective Aug. 31. The office is located at 401 W. Sanford St. in Arlington. There will be limited access to the office until Aug. 31 to facilitate the closing and alert clients to the change.
![Allan-Gould Allan Gould](https://dallasvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Allan-Gould.jpg)
Allan Gould
In explaining the decision to close the Arlington location, Executive Director Allan Gould said: “This is a very difficult decision to reach in light of AOC being actively involved in the Arlington community for over a decade. However, with the effects of the worsening economy and a lack of viable transportation within the city of Arlington it has become clear that those most in need of our programs and services have an on-going challenge in reaching us.”
Because of that, Gould said, the number of clients accessing the Arlington office had been steadily declining, making maintaining that office “no longer an option.”
But the agency will continue to maintain a presence in Arlington by offering regular confidential testing, medical case management and counseling services at the Southeast Campus of Tarrant County College and at the University of Texas at Arlington. Other such locations will be announced in the future.
The four positions being eliminated at the center’s Fort Worth offices, at 400 N. Beach St., are associate executive director of oral health, volunteer coordinator, Arlington program services director and office manager. Duties for those four positions will be reassigned to existing staff members.
AIDS Outreach Center is also reducing the hours of the staff accountant and eliminating all contract counselors, except for one Spanish-speaking counselor. Counseling duties will also be reassigned to existing counseling staff.
His comment about “viable transportation system” is really the heart of the matter. Arlington is the largest metropolitan area without a mass transit system. This means people without a car or ride are not going to get to the center and that speaks volumes about Arlington’s priorities.
It is a pity this center is closing when it is needed so much.
I find this closing extremely sad. I lived in Arlington in 1996 when I found out I had full-blown AIDS.
I didn’t know where to turn and the people who worked in the Arlington AOC office helped me greatly and probably saved my life, The compassion and patience of those people touched my heart in a way I will never forget,
Rick Hall