A Medical Device Daily

Kaiser Permanente Southern California (Pasadena, California) reported that 38 nonprofit organizations in California will receive grants totaling more than $300,000 to help fund a wide range of services for people with HIV and AIDS, including youth education, prevention, screening and treatment programs, as well as housing assistance and food pantries.

By year-end, Kaiser Permanente's community benefit HIV/AIDS grant program will have exceeded $1 million in funding to 63 California agencies. The HIV-focused program began in 1989 and now totals more than $5 million. Kaiser Permanente's research into HIV and AIDS began in 1987.

"We provide quality care to 6,000 HIV-positive patients and collaborate with other organizations in services for non-members who are at risk of, or have acquired, the disease. The latter is where our education and community service grants play an important role," said William Towner, MD, the Kaiser Permanente Southern California regional HIV/AIDS physician coordinator and medical director of Kaiser Permanente Southern California's HIV/AIDS Research Trials Program.

In 2007-2008, more than 220 HIV infected patients throughout the region were enrolled in clinical trials to receive investigational new drugs through the Kaiser Permanente Southern California HIV/AIDS Research Trials Program. With access to new and life-saving drugs, many patients have had the opportunity to regain control of their HIV disease and improve their health and quality of life.

"As a pioneer in the area of education, research and treatment for patients living with HIV, Kaiser Permanente continues to support programs within its medical centers and throughout the community that provide hope, comfort and vision for a brighter, and healthier, future," said Towner.

The 2008 grant recipients were selected by a committee of physicians, nurses, health educators and Kaiser Permanente staff members at each medical center who work with HIV and AIDS patients from the communities they themselves serve.