Few Pasadena AIDS Services, Report Says

Few doctors in Pasadena are knowledgeable enough about the AIDS virus to treat patients who have tested positive for the disease, and few accept indigent AIDS patients, according to an oral report presented to the Board of Directors Tuesday.

According to Dr. Natalie Sanders of the AIDS Strategic Planning Task Force, the city also lacks a residential hospice, and has no comprehensive early intervention program.

“When one looks at who treats AIDS patients in Pasadena, there’s only a handful of us,” Sanders said.

A Pasadena physician herself, Sanders said she estimates that less than 10 Pasadena doctors provide primary care for AIDS patients, and even fewer provide care for AIDS patients on Medi-Cal.

The task force’s report also noted that Pasadena has the fifth-highest case rate of AIDS per 100,000 population in the state. The first four are: San Francisco, Long Beach, Sonoma and Berkeley.

Formed in January, the 15-member task force is preparing a five-year plan to combat AIDS in Pasadena. The group began by profiling patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome or who have tested positive for the virus.

The task force will hold a public hearing from 4 to 7 p.m. today at the Board of Directors chambers for public comment on the city’s AIDS programs.

According to the report, 146 residents have been diagnosed with AIDS, and 88 have died of the disease, a fatality rate more than double that of Pasadena’s 31 Vietnam war casualties.

Most of those with AIDS, 57%, are white; 21% are black, and 20% are Latino, the report said. Most are homosexual or bisexual men, 30 to 39 years old.

The task force noted some strengths in Pasadena community organizations’ response to AIDS patients, including the city Health Department’s programs for alternative test sites and the dispensing of AZT, an anti-AIDS drug; mental health counseling at All Saints Episcopal Church, and the care provided by the St. Luke Medical Center and the Huntington Memorial Hospital.