The Auen Foun­da­tion has award­ed Desert AIDS Project (D.A.P.) a grant to help clients over the age of 50 who have been liv­ing with HIV for at least ten years. The funds will sup­ple­ment the organization’s case man­age­ment and psy­chother­a­py for this age-group, which rep­re­sents 56 per­cent of its clients.

“These long-term sur­vivors are best served with tai­lored pro­grams that match their unique needs,” said David Brinkman, D.A.P. CEO. “Many of these clients have been bat­tling HIV/AIDS since the 80s and 90s, when the stig­ma asso­ci­at­ed with the dis­ease was at its high­est. This expe­ri­ence cre­at­ed bar­ri­ers for seek­ing treat­ment. Many of these peo­ple have lost friends, spous­es and fam­i­ly mem­bers, have unre­solved grief, post-trau­mat­ic stress or long-term depres­sion. We are very grate­ful to the Auen Foun­da­tion for rec­og­niz­ing this real need and for sup­port­ing men­tal health needs in our community.”

D.A.P. offers a team approach for its case man­age­ment. The two pri­ma­ry experts man­ag­ing this case load have been work­ing at D.A.P. for near­ly 20 years each. Through this time, a dis­tinct exper­tise has emerged for peo­ple work­ing with long-term HIV/AIDS sur­vivors, which com­bines med­ical care, social ser­vices and psy­chother­a­py. As part of this holis­tic con­tin­u­um of care, all ser­vices are locat­ed on a sin­gle cam­pus in Palm Springs.

“Our com­mu­ni­ty is so for­tu­nate to have D.A.P. and all the ser­vices it pro­vides,” said Catharine Reed, Pro­gram Direc­tor for the Auen Foun­da­tion. “Address­ing the needs of peo­ple liv­ing with HIV/AIDS who are 50 and old­er is exact­ly the type of pro­gram we want to sup­port, because it aligns with our mis­sion to enhance the qual­i­ty of life for the aging population.”

D.A.P. serves unin­sured and under­in­sured peo­ple liv­ing with HIV and AIDS by pro­vid­ing com­pre­hen­sive sup­port, includ­ing med­ical care, case man­age­ment, and social ser­vices, like food, hous­ing, and coun­sel­ing. D.A.P. also offers free and con­fi­den­tial HIV test­ing at a num­ber of loca­tions in the val­ley. To learn more about Desert AIDS Project, call 760–323-2118, vis­it www.desertaidsproject.org or find D.A.P on Face­book, Twit­ter and You Tube.
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