Local News in Brief : Countywide : $508,662 in Aid Directed to Anti-AIDS Programs
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday accepted $508,662 in federal and state money to fight the spread of AIDS among drug abusers.
“I can’t overemphasize how important this is to us,” said William L. Edelman of the county Health Care Agency. “We are in a very good position to start stemming the tide of intravenous drug abusers spreading AIDS.”
The uses for the money will include an expansion of the methadone program at the county’s drug abuse clinic in Santa Ana; added staff in the health care agency to educate intravenous drug users about acquired immune deficiency syndrome; a new county ombudsman to ensure that all those in need of drug abuse services are properly referred, and a part-time nurse in the County Jail to increase the number of prisoners tested for AIDS.
Edelman said the county had been expecting to receive the AIDS funds, though the amount was not known when the Health Care Agency’s budget was adopted in August.
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