AIDS Care Organization to Close Its Oldest Hospice
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In a sign of the changing nature of AIDS care as well as the financial problems of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the organization is closing its oldest hospice.
Opened in late 1988 in a former nurse’s dorm of Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Elysian Park, the 25-bed Chris Brownlie House will close this week.
“The demand for hospice beds has radically diminished,” foundation President Michael Weinstein said, citing advances in drug treatment that are extending the lives of people with AIDS.
The organization, which relies heavily on public funding, was planning to close its San Fernando Valley clinic until it reached a deal last week to consolidate that operation with a private medical practice.
The Los Angeles foundation has blamed its financial difficulties on the rising cost of treatment and quickly evolving trends in AIDS care. Los Angeles County supervisors, who refused the organization’s request for $1.2 million in August, have ordered a study of its finances.
Brownlie’s closing will leave the foundation with four clinics and two 25-bed residential care facilities--one of which, Linn House, opened in February.
The foundation leases the Brownlie building for a nominal sum, and Weinstein said he intends to develop another use for it.
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