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Cover Story

Twenty-five Years of Service:
Desert AIDS Project prepares for its second-quarter century
By Will Duncan

When it comes to dealing with the myriad issues and concerns that surround HIV and AIDS, there is “much accomplished, much to do” as noted recently by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been a preeminent AIDS researcher since the early 1980s.
Desert AIDS Project (D.A.P.) has adopted Dr. Fauci’s phrase as a sort of mantra to mark its 25 years of service, beginning on August 22. (Details about some of what has happened over these years are included in the accompanying timeline.) For nearly as long as the pandemic has been identified as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, D.A.P. has been here to offer care, prevention and advocacy services to those infected with, affected by, or at-risk for HIV or AIDS.
D.A.P. lies at the epicenter of care and prevention for vulnerable populations in our region. Its staff, management, volunteers and board members continue to carry out their work despite an environment of persistent social stigma, declining societal interest and decreasing federal funding for AIDS programs. Given a service area of 11,000-plus  square miles—roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts, encompassing parts of Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties—meeting the needs of D.A.P.’s many clients is no easy task.
Clockwise from top: Anne and Kirk Douglas, honorary chairs of the first Desert AIDS WAlk; Some members of 100 Women; Judith Light, who received the Arts & Activism Award at the 2008 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards; Les Dames du Soleil and the Dames Dudes; Panels from the N.A.M.E.S. Project AIDS Memorial Quilt; Joan Kroc is honored at “A Valentine’s Gala” for her contribution that built D.A.P.’s first medical clinic at 750 Vella Rd.; Some of the D.A.P. volunteers who help to keep the organization running smoothly; President and Mrs. Ford in 1989 with the writers, director, producer and actors of Mother, Mother; Harold Matzner, who received the Partners for Life Award at the 2004 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards; Liza Minnelli performing at the 2007 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards; Patti LaBelle performing at the 2007 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards; D.A.P. volunteer Rick Vila, who is also co-editor of D.A.P.’s  newsletter,  DAPCAN; The late Earl Greenburg, who received the Partners for Life Award at the 2004 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards.

Part of the community
D.A.P.’s primary facility is a one-of-a-kind campus of 3.5 acres in Palm Springs that includes: 1) a 44,000-square-foot service center, 2) the 80-unit Rick Weiss Apartments for low-income people diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, and 3) the recently-opened Palm Springs Family Care Center. While only the first of these belongs to D.A.P., they all work together to help provide a complete client service experience that exists nowhere else in the U.S.
Whether clients are already living on the D.A.P. campus or traveling to Palm Springs from elsewhere, they find a “one-stop experience” when they enter its service center at the southeast corner of Sunrise and Vista Chino. Clients can see their health care provider and case manager, fill their prescriptions at the onsite Walgreens pharmacy specializing in HIV treatment, have lab work done, meet with a county-employed benefits counselor, obtain grocery and gas vouchers, receive nutrition advice, attend a group meeting or substance abuse counseling session, talk to a therapist, receive free or low-cost civil legal service, access eastern medicine alternatives, and much more. D.A.P. is in the process of expanding its Wells Fargo HIV Health Center, as well as building a dental facility, specifically for patients with HIV and AIDS.
Desert AIDS Project believes strongly in a holistic approach using both western and eastern medicine—in whatever combination of services is most appropriate to the individual client’s needs—in treating HIV and AIDS. While not all 27 programs are available at its satellite office in Indio, D.A.P. has been using that location to reach out to the eastern valley for almost 15 years  to provide case management for clients and educational outreach to at-risk populations. As a part of its strategic plan covering the years 2008 - 2011, D.A.P. is planning to reach even further into the small towns and rural sections of its service area by using a medical/dental/lab mobile unit, which will be staffed with medical and case management personnel.
Since education, testing and prevention are also a core component of D.A.P.’s mission, they use their chain of Revivals resale stores—with five locations in Palm Springs, Cathedral City and Palm Desert—to provide free and confidential HIV testing with results in about 20 minutes. Between these locations and others in Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs, D.A.P. offers testing six days a week throughout the year. Free and confidential syphilis testing is also available at D.A.P.’s main location in Palm Springs.
Revivals has been and continues to be a big success for D.A.P., as it contributes a significant amount to the annual revenue that supports client services. In fact, in fiscal 2007, Revivals contributed 24 percent of total revenue. This would not be possible if not for the 200-plus volunteers who give so freely of their time and talents to staff the stores and keep them running efficiently.
Of course, D.A.P.’s individual and major donors, in addition to corporate and foundation support, are essential to its ongoing financial health. But many of those in its major donor programs, Partners for Life and 100 Women, have become ambassadors not only to the philanthropic community on behalf of D.A.P., but also by helping to extend its program services.
One such example is the new “Entre Mujeres” (Between Women) program, which is a collaboration between 100 Women and D.A.P.’s Education, Prevention and Testing Services Department. Entre Mujeres’s initial outreach will be to low-income, Hispanic women who are already receiving some services through the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program at the Mecca Farmworker and Family Resource Center.
The local community responded overwhelmingly to D.A.P.’s request for donations of personal care products. Volunteers have packed these in health and hygiene bags, including beautiful receiving blankets and teddy bears made by D.A.P. volunteer group Stitch in Time, that will be distributed at a lunchtime event at the Center in Mecca on August 5 where bilingual outreach workers will present information on and answer questions about HIV prevention and care. 100 Women sees Entre Mujeres as just the start of a complete offering of program services that will address a broad array of needs for women and children infected with or affected by HIV or AIDS.

Much to be done
D.A.P. has come far since its formation as an all-volunteer response to a condition that struggled to shake off the shame and guilt that many attached to it. For many years, D.A.P. was like most other fledgling nonprofit organizations and operated on the proverbial financial shoestring. Although funding still presents significant challenges, Desert AIDS Project has become a truly unique, world-class AIDS service organization that is today a model for others nationwide.
In order to sustain its very necessary services in the face of declining funding from state and federal sources, D.A.P. must still rely heavily on the community’s collective goodwill and philanthropy. Today, D.A.P. serves more than 2,300 clients—a number that is expected to increase by more than 18 percent each year for at least the next four years.
Today, the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) medications—what has become commonly known as “the cocktail” for treating HIV and AIDS—means it is not uncommon for an infected individual who has access to treatment to live with the disease for 20 years or longer. Of course, this is great news and D.A.P. already has the infrastructure in place to continue its client care. But as infection rates grow, so does D.A.P.’s challenge, in terms of sheer numbers of clients they must serve.

The future of HIV care and prevention
Based on income data from major California urban areas, at least two-thirds of Californians with HIV/AIDS are believed to be living at or below 300 percent of federal poverty level. Yet while HIV/AIDS caseloads among low-income populations steadily increase, federal financial resources for California continue to dwindle.
An average of at least 4,500 Californians annually progress from HIV to AIDS, while as many as 5,000 additional Californians may become newly infected with HIV each year. Current Ryan White legislation is scheduled to permanently expire at the end of 2009—an event that could threaten the health and well-being of tens of thousands of low-income Californians. At the same time, potential changes to Medicaid and emerging universal health care initiatives are expected to have serious implications on HIV services in California.
In order to continue meeting its mission of maintaining and expanding care, prevention  and advocacy services, D.A.P. has been creating an endowment fund. The plan is that the fund will eventually create sufficient income that D.A.P. will be largely or even completely free of the need for additional funding from other sources. Thus far, D.A.P. has been the fortunate recipient of endowment gifts totaling approximately $1.9 million.

D.A.P. is here for the long run
Desert AIDS Project is proud of the work that it does, but knows that none of it would be possible without the generosity of its donors and volunteers. They hope to see as many of you as possible at their Desert AIDS Walk on Saturday, October 21, which not only raises funds for D.A.P. but also ongoing awareness that AIDS is still a significant health concern and that many need our help. There will also be fundraisers by the fabulous Les Dames du Soleil in October and on Mother’s Day 2009, as well as Dining Out for Life on April 30.
Perhaps D.A.P.’s most visible fundraising event, the 2009 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards, will be held at the Palm Springs Convention Center on Saturday, February 21. Entertainment icon and supporter of various local charitable causes, Barry Manilow will receive the Silver Anniversary Community Service Award. While other award winners and presenters, as well as entertainers, have yet to be announced, Dr. Anthony Fauci will accept the Silver Anniversary Science and Medicine Award.
As a recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil honor, D.A.P. is honored that Dr. Fauci will attend. Says D.A.P. Executive Director David Brinkman, “We all look forward to telling Dr. Fauci how he has inspired D.A.P.’s work through these last 24 years and that we have borrowed his ‘Much accomplished, much to do’ phrase in dealing with our future challenges. But hopefully, he and everyone else at the Steve Chase will leave that evening knowing that these are more than just words to us. We have no intentions of stopping now. We are here for the long haul and are committed to providing our services for the next 25 years—or however long it takes to be able to close our doors forever because HIV and AIDS are no longer among us. Until there’s a cure, Desert AIDS Project has no intention of going away.”

TIMELINE
Through the Years
The Desert AIDS Project
and the AIDS pandemic

August 22, 1984 — Desert AIDS Project opens on Belardo Road as Community Counseling and Consultation Center, offering case management, counseling and education outreach.

1985 — Health departments worldwide are funded to implement HIV prevention programs. First guidelines for blood screening are issued and the U.S. Food and Drug (FDA) administration licenses the ELISA test for detecting HIV. The first International Conference on AIDS is held. g Rock Hudson becomes the first major celebrity to admit to having AIDS, helping to bring it to the forefront of the public mind.

1987 — U.S. FDA approves AZT as the first antiretroviral drug to be used as a treatment for AIDS. g ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) holds its first mass demonstration on Wall Street in New York City, many carrying placards with the graphic emblem “Silence = Death.” The group’s demands include better access to drugs at cheaper prices, public education about AIDS and the prohibition of AIDS-related discrimination.

1988 — Desert AIDS Project moves to larger offices at 750 Vella Road. Now grown beyond its initial all-volunteer response to the epidemic first identified as “gay cancer,” D.A.P. has a staff of 10, assisted by 150+ volunteers. g “Understanding AIDS” is mailed to all U.S. households. Universal precautions are established for health care workers. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) significantly expands state and local prevention funding. g World AIDS Day is originated at the World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities worldwide.

1989 — Chaired by Betty Ford and Kirk and Anne Douglas, the first Desert AIDS Walk sets off down Palm Canyon Drive. Sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue, it raises $25,000—a huge boon to an organization with a budget of $750,000. g First 100,000 cases of AIDS nationally are reported.

1990 — Ryan White, a 16-year-old hemophiliac from Indiana who contracted AIDS by blood transfusion, dies. His advocacy for AIDS research and awareness is marked the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency (CARE) Act, which becomes the largest federally-funded program for people with HIV/AIDS. D.A.P.’s funding base and program service delivery model changes dramatically. g The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is passed and includes legal protection for people with AIDS.

1991 — NBA superstar, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, of the L.A. Lakers, announces that he has AIDS and will retire from basketball. g A portion of the N.A.M.E.S. Project AIDS Quilt is displayed at the Palm Springs Pavilion, including panel submissions for deceased D.A.P. clients, volunteers, donors and board members. Shortly thereafter, Marv and Carol Sholl, later honored with the 2006 Warner Engdahl Community Service Award, start the ongoing Red Ribbon Campaign fundraiser for D.A.P. client services.

1992 — Well-known interior designer Steve Chase, D.A.P. board member and a Desert AIDS Walk participant since its start, brings Broadway entertainment to the McCallum Theater with “Heartstrings” as a D.A.P. fundraiser. Joel Grey hosts and Patti Lupone headlines. There’s not a dry eye in the house as the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus and the Indio based gospel group, Mt. Cavalry Baptist Church Choir, bring down the house. g Shortly thereafter, D.A.P. opens its medical clinic, made possible by a generous gift from Joan Kroc. Following the sale of her home in Thunderbird Cove, she gives half the proceeds to Desert AIDS Project and the other half to DIFFA (Design Industry Fighting AIDS). As a close friend of Steve Chase, Mrs. Kroc also donates artwork to D.A.P., a practice that Chase continues with his other clients—ultimately filling D.A.P.’s walls. g AIDS continues to strike the world of athletics. Arthur Ashe, the first black man to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, announces that he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, probably contracted by blood transfusion from heart surgery in 1983. Ashe dies the following year.

1993 — “A Valentine’s Gala” honors Betty Ford, Joan Kroc and Steve Chase for their compassion and dedication to D.A.P. clients. g “Positively Speaking” program, comprised of D.A.P. client volunteers willing to tell their experiences with HIV, helps put a “face to AIDS” for educational outreach.

1994 — D.A.P. opens its Indio satellite location for educational outreach and client case management in the eastern Coachella Valley. g Les Dames du Soleil gives their first of many fundraising performances for D.A.P. With a 2007 show that produces over $250,000—thanks to a $125,000 matching challenge by the Wells Fargo Foundation—this troupe of comedic drag performers goes on to an illustrious fundraising career that still continues in 2008. D.A.P recognizes their contributions with the 2001 Warner Engdahl Community Service Award and Les Dames received their very own Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in 2007.

1995 — Honoring the recent death of former Board member and fundraiser extraordinaire, D.A.P. stages the first annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards. It sets the stage for what is to become the largest black-tie gala in the Coachella Valley, continuing today. g 500,000 cases of AIDS reported. FDA approves the first protease inhibitor drug. g Guy Lawson convinces Desert Hospital to dedicate the third floor of the east wing of the Sinatra Tower and the Hospital Auxiliary to donate $25,000 to found the HIV Special Care Unit. Rallying to Guy’s call, local interior designers, donors and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians help create a stylish lobby and comfortable, home-like rooms. After studying how San Francisco General Hospital had worked with and cared for HIV and AIDS patients, Guy recruits and trains volunteers that sustain the unit for many years.

1997 — First decline in AIDS deaths reported. g D.A.P. supplements its mental health counseling services with substance abuse programs in answer to the growing problem of crystal meth and amphetamine use as contributing factors to HIV infection.

1998 — D.A.P. applies for Cal-Mortgage California Health Facility Construction Loan to purchase its present facility at 1695 N. Sunrise Way. g Congressional Black Caucus provides additional funding for minority prevention programs.

2000 — D.A.P. moves to 1695 N. Sunrise with only the medical clinic built out. Throughout the subsequent years, Community Development Block Grants from the City of Palm Springs help with the build-out of office space, exterior landscaping and infrastructure issues. Also over these years, corporate, foundation and major private donors have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in total to help build-out D.A.P. space. Some of these donors have included Wells Fargo (Wells Fargo HIV Health Center,) Walgreens (in-house Walgreens pharmacy and Walgreens Meeting Room,) Mark Adams (Ridgway-Adams Community Center,) the late Earl Greenburg and partner David Peet (Greenburg-Peet Family Center,) Jim and Jackie Lee Houston (Jim and Jackie Lee Houston Counseling Room,) Harold Matzner (Matzner Serenity Garden) and Andy Silver (Silver Family Board Room). g Stitch in Time, a needlecraft and quilting group, is formed as part of the D.A.P. Wellness Program and begins to attract both clients and volunteers. Through the years the group raises tens of thousands of dollars for client services. They become an integral volunteer group for D.A.P., making teddy bears and receiving blankets for children affected by HIV, lap quilts for AIDS patients in local hospitals, and much more.

2001 — A gift of $50,000 from Andy and Mark Linsky honors their parents with the Morris & Lila Linsky Annex Food Depot, to distribute fresh produce, canned goods and other food items for D.A.P. clients and their pets.

2002 — FDA approves OraQuick Rapid HIV-1 Antibody Test, first rapid test to use finger prick. g D.A.P. establishes Public Policy Department to focus greater energy on federal and state HIV/AIDS policy issues. For the first time, a woman is included in the D.A.P. delegation to AIDSWatch in Washington, DC.

2003 — Rick Draughon, a Stitch in Time volunteer, attracts the attention of a neighbor while making a crazy hat for the upcoming AIDS Walk. That neighbor, Brent Wallis, surprises D.A.P. with a $25,000 check for Rick’s participation as a Walker and continues to support D.A.P. with even greater donations throughout the years, including an unrestricted gift of $100,000 upon his death. g D.A.P. launches valley-wide billboard campaign, entitled “Silence Still = Death,” to increase advocacy efforts for Ryan White CARE Act reauthorization. D.A.P. Public Policy makes initial presentations at both the National Staying Alive Conference in Denver and at the U.S. Conference on AIDS in New Orleans.

2004 — OraQuick test advances now allow use of saliva, instead of blood. g D.A.P. launches a second Valley-wide poster and billboard campaign called “Simply Red” to increase awareness of and help end the alarming increase in reported syphilis cases in the Coachella Valley. g Dozens of names and photos of loved ones who have passed away are collected at the Desert AIDS Walk. Stitch in Time creates a quilt and two side panels that are displayed in the D.A.P. lobby throughout December to mark it as AIDS Awareness Month.

2007 — Completing a four-year partnering with McCormack Baron Salazar, one of the nation’s leading for-profit developers of economically integrated urban neighborhoods, D.A.P. opens the Rick Weiss Apartments for D.A.P. clients.

2008 — Riverside County’s Department of Health opens the Palm Springs Family Care Center just to the south of D.A.P., helping to round out its service offerings to clients.

SIDEBAR 1

Watch for more about the Desert AIDS Project throughout its 25th year

“Think globally, act locally” has always been good advice when it comes to HIV/AIDS care, prevention and advocacy. But D.A.P. has been helping others beyond just those in its service area for many years by participating in the HIV Children’s Initiative, an international drug salvage project that distributes unused HIV medications from the U.S. to places without access to them.
Guy Lawson has long been a go-to-guy for getting things done for the desert philanthropic community. In addition to his instrumental role in creating Desert Hospital’s HIV Special Care Unit, Guy was also responsible for helping to bring an unrestricted gift of $220,000 to D.A.P. from the estate of Ed Doran, one of his most dedicated volunteers on the Unit. Other gifts left to D.A.P. in donors’ estate plans are making it possible for D.A.P. to create an endowment fund for ongoing client services.
Formed in 2000 as a part of D.A.P.’s Wellness Program, the idea behind the Stitch in Time client group was to provide them with a needlework activity—knitting, embroidery, cross-stitch, crocheting, quilting and more—that would help with neuropathy, a painful condition of the hands common to many AIDS patients. But it’s become much more. One client said, “When I was literally on my deathbed in 2006, the thought of this group helped me to get well again. Truly, the only thing that has separated most of us from each other is death.”
“Food is medicine” has always been a core belief at Desert AIDS Project because good nutrition is a key component in treatment adherence for those living with HIV or AIDS. Although ongoing funding for D.A.P.’s food program has often been a challenge, the Morris & Lila Linsky Food Depot Annex has been used consistently since it was opened in 2001.
Rick Draughon, a D.A.P. client, had already been participating in the Desert AIDS Walk for years when his fundraising potential changed dramatically in 2003. A neighbor he barely knew unexpectedly donated $25,000 for Rick’s participation and pledged increasing amounts in subsequent years.
Life partners Larry Gibson and Dennis Golay have become something of D.A.P. “poster clients” and media darlings of late. In 2008, their story of aging with AIDS has been nationally syndicated in print by the Los Angeles Times and on radio by American Public Media.
With federal funding for HIV/AIDS on the decline, Revivals resale stores—now at five locations—last year contributed 24 percent of operating revenue to support client services at D.A.P. This is only made possible through the thousands of hours donated each year by more than 200 dedicated volunteers.

SIDEBAR 2

Just 10 years ago …
“I hope we will all be able to link arms and applaud when we can close the doors of this agency forever, because HIV is gone forever. But in the meantime, we have much work to do. Please help us in making a difference.”

– Chris Crays, Client and Community Health Educator. Spoken at the Capital Campaign Kickoff September, 1998

Where D.A.P. is today …
Since April of 2000, Desert AIDS Project has had its present home at 1695 N. Sunrise Way in Palm Springs. D.A.P. sits on a 3.5-acre campus along with the 80-unit Rick Weiss Apartments for low-income people diagnosed with HIV or AIDS and the recently-opened Palm Springs Family Care Center, operated by the Riverside County Department of Public Health. Unlike any other AIDS service organization around the country, some D.A.P. clients need only cross the parking lot from their apartment to find a full range of services. Once inside D.A.P.’s primary care facility, clients have a “one-stop experience” with access to 27 different programs.

And its hope for the future …
Adding 456 new clients within just the last fiscal year alone, D.A.P. has projected at least 18 percent annual growth in its client base for the next four years. With advances in drug therapies and medical care, the outlook for those with HIV and AIDS is better than it has ever been before. But in the face of increasing numbers of clients with decreasing federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs, Desert AIDS Project continues to rely heavily on its donors and volunteers who are so generous with their money, time, and talents.

For more information about Desert AIDS Project, visit desertaidsproject.org. For concerns specific to gay men’s health issues, including HIV and AIDS, visit psgaymenshealth.com.