AIN CEO and President Steven Pace
AIN to continue services under its own name and staff; AHF to add a clinic
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
Officials at AIN, a 30-year-old Dallas AIDS service provider, announced this week that their organization has affiliated with AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
“The landscape of HIV/AIDS is changing,” said AIN CEO and President Steven Pace, noting that AIN worked for two years to make the decision to affiliate and that he had spoken to most of the nine other agencies in other cities that have formed this sort of affiliation.
“All said it was the best thing they could have done,” Pace said, while stressing that the two organizations are not merging.
AIN provides a variety of services — including meals, transportation and case management — for low-income individuals living with HIV and other vulnerable populations. In addition to meals, AIN’s Daire Center provides non-medical support, including art therapy and stabilization in a safe space as well as respite care.
AHF is the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider in the U.S., providing medical care to 1.2 million people in 43 countries. In Texas, AHF operates clinics in North Dallas, Fort Worth at the AIDS Outreach Center office and in Houston. In addition, AHF’s Out of the Closet resale store on Cedar Springs Road does HIV testing and houses a pharmacy.
AIN will continue to operate its programs under its own name with the same staff and leadership as before the affiliation, Pace said. But now, AHF will open a clinic in AIN’s offices on Stemmons Freeway behind Children’s Hospital and Parkland.
Those clients using any of AIN’s services but currently receiving medical care from Parkland’s Amelia Court HIV clinic, Prism Health North Texas, Health Services of North Texas, Partners Clinic at Methodist Hospital or AHF’s clinic at Medical City are welcome to continue seeing their doctor, Pace said. And AIN will continue providing transportation to those clinics for their clients.
But clients out of care and those that find it more convenient will be able to get their medical care at the new on-site clinic that should open within the next six months, Pace said. AHF will also open a pharmacy in AIN’s office, making it easier for its clients, whether they use the clinic or not, to pick up their medications.
Pace said in addition to the clinic, financial considerations were a part of the decision to affiliate.
“Funding is being pushed toward organizations that can provide a comprehensive range of services and get newly-diagnosed people into care,” Pace said. As an example, he said, “If you don’t have medical services, you can’t get funding for medical case management.”
Much of AIN’s support comes from government grants, so having the clinic in AIN’s offices will help ensure continued funding for its programs. The affiliation, Pace said, gives AIN a more sustainable future, adding, “The affiliation also gives us a safety net we never had before.”
While AIN will continue to fundraise and write its own grants, the arrangement assures the continuation of programs that might lose their funding at some point. Pace said that was good for his staff and his agency’s clients.
Pace said he isn’t concerned that adding a clinic would mean his agency would be taking clients from another clinic. He pointed to Prism Health NTX which merged with Uptown Physicians earlier this year, saying that merger has resulted in more business. Rather than consolidating services, Prism has since opened a clinic in Oak Lawn — on Lemmon Avenue near Central Expressway — while continuing to operate its South Dallas and Oak Cliff clinics as well as Uptown’s offices.
Pace said AIN and AHF plan to redouble their efforts to do HIV testing and bring more people into care.
Pace said his organization has partnered with others in the past, and that experience should make it easier to affiliate with AHF. In 2000, AIN absorbed several of the programs of Oak Lawn Community Services as that agency ran into financial difficulty and closed. Pace said that was a period of rapid growth for his agency, and he expects similar growth through this affiliation.
AHF also benefits from the affiliation: After more than three decades of service, AIN is well known in the community. The agency has a level of trust in the community and among its supporters. Although AHF began providing care in 1987, it has only been operating in Dallas and Fort Worth since 2012.
Pace said both agencies have a similar mission. AHF Texas Regional Director Bret Camp agreed.
Camp called it a “mission decision” of bringing care to those who need it most. But he said AIN brings his organization some of the best case management and medical case management he’s seen.
“Both AHF and AIN share a common mission to stop the spread of HIV and improve the lives of all people living with HIV/AIDS, and we believe this relationship will be mutually beneficial for our clients, patients and our organizations,” Camp said.
Both organizations were founded to provide HIV-related services to underserved, low-income, multicultural communities.
“This new partnership allows both organizations to continue to leverage our respective strengths to better serve the needs of men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS throughout the greater Dallas and North Texas area,” Camp said.
According to 2017 statistics, the latest available, Dallas County has the highest HIV infection rate in Texas and the fourth highest rate in the country.
In 2017, an estimated 18,073 persons were living with HIV in Dallas County — an almost 6 percent increase over 2016.
Camp said there are another 3,000 to 4,000 people living undiagnosed in the area. He said his goal is to get those people diagnosed and into care.
