Laguna Beach Clinic to Get More State Funds for AIDS Testing

One of the county’s biggest AIDS-testing agencies, suffering from a funding cutback as the demand for tests skyrocketed, got some good news Tuesday: It will get back all the money it lost and more.

But even with the new funds, the clinic will not be able to cover the cost of the AIDS tests because of the sharply increasing demand for the test, officials said.

The Laguna Beach Community Clinic saw a 335% jump in the number of people it tested for AIDS in 1991 over 1990, and clinic officials said the number seems likely to increase again this year.

“We’re still going to be spending more for tests this year than the state gives us, but the new money certainly helps,” said Gary Erb, executive director of the nonprofit clinic. He noted that only two months ago, the clinic faced a $1,600 cut in state money for AIDS testing.

But in an unexpected turnaround, the state late last month notified AIDS-testing agencies, including the Laguna Beach Community Clinic, that more money had been found for the testing program.

The result for the Laguna Beach Community Clinic was a restoration of the $1,600 cut made in December and an additional $10,000 grant.

Last summer, the state notified the clinic that it would be getting $35,000 in state money for AIDS testing for the fiscal year. But in December, the state said the amount had to be reduced to $33,400 because of state budget problems. This cutback alarmed clinic officials, coming just as the clinic was facing a huge increase in the number of people seeking tests for the AIDS-causing virus.

By late January, however, state officials had funneled more money back into the AIDS program. State health officials in Sacramento said it came from a $4-million emergency appropriation for AIDS testing passed last month by the Legislature.

In a letter dated Jan. 28, Gail Koester, chief of the state’s Office of Family Planning, wrote the Laguna Beach Community Clinic that it would be getting a total of $45,106 this fiscal year--about $10,000 more than originally budgeted by the state.

In an interview Tuesday, Erb said the clinic is “grateful” for the additional state money. But he said the demand for AIDS testing is still so high that the clinic will face an $18,000 shortfall by June 30.

To make up the difference, the clinic will seek donations. It will continue to request money from those being tested, but people who cannot afford it will not be denied tests, Erb said. The clinic will also seek donations from other sources. Each AIDS test costs the clinic $42, he said.

AIDS testing has greatly increased since 1987, when the clinic first offered the service. During that calendar year, the clinic tested only six people for the virus. It tested 360 people in 1988; 907 in 1989; 772 in 1990 and 2,585 in 1991, clinic officials said. As of Jan. 31 this year, the clinic had tested 300 people, and staffers said this year may exceed last year’s record-breaking number.

The clinic serves the area around Laguna Beach, one of Orange County’s biggest gay communities and an area that has one of the highest percentages of AIDS cases in the nation on a per capita basis, Erb said. But he added that the increase in the demand for AIDS testing stems largely from a greater awareness by heterosexuals of the dangers they face from AIDS.

That awareness shot up last year when Laker star Magic Johnson announced that he had become infected with the AIDS virus, triggering a nationwide increase in people seeking to be tested.