Disaster Relief Sought for Cities Hit Hard by AIDS

The head of the National Commission on AIDS said Thursday the panel will seek emergency disaster relief money for the cities hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic because of inadequate federal, state and local funding.

Commission members meeting in Los Angeles said they would seek congressional support for a bill that would provide emergency funding--similar to relief provided for communities crippled by earthquakes, floods and hurricanes--for Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Newark and Miami.

About 70% of all the reported cases of people infected with the AIDS virus in the United States are in those metropolitan areas.

“Because AIDS is a disaster--a human disaster,” said Dr. June E. Osborn, chairwoman of the commission, “it’s quite clear the areas that have been hardest hit are in need of more funding.”

Rep. J. Roy Rowland (D-Ga.), a member of the commission, said he will sponsor legislation that seeks matching funds from each of the states involved for AIDS relief money.

The commission, a panel created to advise Congress and President Bush on the nation’s AIDS epidemic, is on a three-day fact-finding tour of Los Angeles to gauge the depth of the AIDS crisis here. During an all-day hearing at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the commission heard testimony from more than 30 health care workers, AIDS specialists and activists, who described problems HIV-infected patients have in seeking medical care.

The hearing was its first outside the nation’s capital since the panel was formed last year. Eunice Diaz, a professor at the USC School of Medicine and a member of the panel, said she lobbied for the local hearing “because L.A.’s position with regard to the AIDS crisis needs to be acknowledged on a national basis.”

Several commission members said they were stunned by the lack of AIDS treatment facilities and health care funding in Los Angeles. Commission member Scott Allen said he was “surprised at the lack of compassion here,” evidenced by the fact that the county Health Department provides only one 22-bed AIDS inpatient clinic in an area with the nation’s second-highest total of reported AIDS cases.

Robert Gates, county Health Department chief, told the panel the county is handcuffed by inadequate state funding, and that he has tried to find alternatives to inpatient care. The 1990 county budget includes $60 million for AIDS, he said, but a host of speakers said that is a relatively small amount and blasted the county for failing to allocate more. Members of ACT/UP, an AIDS activist group, held up signs such as “U R Wasting AIDS $” during Gates’ testimony.

Dave Johnson, AIDS coordinator for the city of Los Angeles, said most of the AIDS health care is now being provided by community health clinics and criticized local elected officials for failing to enact proper AIDS education and prevention programs.

“We’ve got to tell people about safe sex, and we’ve got to tell people about clean needles or we’re going to have a lot of dead bodies out there,” he said.

Several other officials from San Diego, Orange and San Bernardino counties cited a lack of resources and AIDS facilities available for HIV-infected people in their communities.

“The thread that’s run through here is that there is a shocking absence of programs for sick and dying people in Los Angeles and the rest of the state,” said Dr. David E. Rogers, vice chairman of the commission. “We on this committee are building to fight for more federal money, but here is one of the wealthiest states in the nation, and it’s not paying for these critical programs.”

The panel, in a letter to President Bush last month, asked the Administration to recognize “that a crisis situation exists in many cities that will require extraordinary measures.” The commission is scheduled to send a report on the nation’s AIDS crisis to the White House by August.