New AIDS Care Center at Cedars

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is making a significant contribution to the care of persons with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by establishing a major AIDS treatment center.

The Medical Center has agreed to develop a 24-bed dedicated AIDS ward, a 24-hour outpatient AIDS treatment center and a research facility, together constituting one of the most complete AIDS care facilities in the nation. Private donors have collected $2.5 million for the project as a tribute to Sheldon Andelson, a former UC regent and pioneer of gay rights, who died of AIDS two years ago.

At least eight other hospitals in the Los Angeles area already have separate AIDS wards in operation. The county will open a 20-bed AIDS ward at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in September, to be followed next year with a new AIDS outpatient clinic, also at the County-USC Medical Center.

Recent research has underscored the importance of developing specialized centers for the treatment of those infected with HIV. The study showed that the prospects for patient survival are greatly enhanced when treatment occurs where experience is greatest. There is no known cure for AIDS, but rapid progress is being made on treatments that are effective in prolonging the lives of those with AIDS and in postponing the onset of AIDS for those infected with HIV.

The progress in providing special hospital care in the region has not been matched by a similar expansion of alternative care facilities. San Francisco is able to care for AIDS patients at half the cost because of an elaborate volunteer-sustained program of home and hospice care as an alternative to the costlier, and often less humane, care within the acute-care hospital. Most AIDS patients require only short, episodic hospitalization, but many need sustained support at home or in a special residential setting.

The county now has only six hospices and three residential facilities to care for the increasing number of AIDS cases, according to AIDS Project Los Angeles, the largest comprehensive service organization.