By John Hayden
From providing life saving medication to HIV testing to culturally informed programs, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a healthcare leader around the world and in South Florida. They have long had a location in Wilton Manors, but now they are expanding their services to the heart of Broward County’s LGBTQA+ community: The Pride Center at Equality Park. “We wanted to provide access to the meds at a more reasonable location,” AHF’s Aaron Cutright told OutClique. “The Pride Center also hosts several different groups on their campus.”
Thousands of people visit the Pride Center every year for everything from group meetings to seminars to parenting workshops. They also have new senior housing that just opened up. Aaron says it’s about convenience for clients and the community. “This is an access center so you can pick up your medication, either by courier or it’s mail ordered here but you can pick up everything here. It can be PrEP, your ARV medications. It’s not just HIV medications. It can be for high blood pressure, diabetes, we’re going to offer a variety of things that can be picked up here.”
Joseph Cannon will be the pharmacy tech who greets patients and helps them get set up with their meds which he says is his favorite part of working with AHF. “I’ve been doing it for a while. It’s making sure they get their meds. We’re all family.”
AHF provides medications to people regardless of their income, and their case management team works with everyone to make sure they get the treatments they need. In addition to medication pick up and case management, AHF also hopes to use the new space for HIV testing. A lot of people lost access to healthcare during the COVID crisis, and AHF wants people to be aware of their options. “Activating the community and making sure people know there are resources is crucial. A successful partnership with the Pride Center is they’re good at that. We want to make sure we work together to not just bring awareness but community outreach workers so you’re out there engaging the community and making sure people stay in care.”
Ninety-six cents of every dollar AHF gets goes to global programs, and currently they are serving 1.6 million people in 45 countries. “Reaching the patients in Haiti and some of those third world countries. They’re never going to get the attention and the resources they deserve. It’s going to take organizations such as AHF to really make changes in eliminating the epidemic altogether.” South Florida has a large Haitian community, and Aaron says they are great for helping spread the word in their home country. “Word of mouth is our best referral source. Not just in terms of ARVs and medications, but vaccinations. AHF is engaged in a new campaign called SAVE, Share American Vaccines Everywhere. We’re going to amplify our outreach and push for the Biden administration to not only share what we do have in excess, but to order more vaccines for Latin American countries and Caribbean countries.”
The new offices are in the back of the building past the auditorium off the Dixie Highway entrance, at 2038 Suite 104. For more information on AHF’s services and hours, go to their website: AidsHealth.org. For more on programs at The Pride Center, go to PrideCenterFlorida.org.
