HRSA Honors Outstanding HIV/AIDS Health Care Providers

HRSA officials last night presented national awards to seven Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act-funded programs and individuals for their efforts providing health care services to Americans living with HIV/AIDS.

“Our award recipients have made a tremendous impact in our daily fight against HIV and AIDS,” said Deborah Parham, Ph.D., R.N., associate administrator of HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau.  “Hundreds of thousands of Americans benefit each year from the care and compassion that these individuals and groups—and many others like them—provide.”

The awards were presented in Washington, D.C., during the 2002 Ryan White CARE Act Grantee Conference.  Together, CARE Act grantees provide HIV/AIDS primary care and support services to more than 530,000 low-income uninsured and underinsured individuals or family members every year.

The awards and winners are:

• Associate Administrators’ Award—Terje Anderson, M.S.W., executive director of the  National Association of People with AIDS, for his contributions to the health, spirit and empowerment of people living with HIV.

• Hank Carde Award for Metropolitan Services—Wilbert C. Jordan, M.D., M.P.H., OASIS Clinic director, Los Angeles, for his work in establishing an innovative partnership between the clinic and the Office of AIDS Programs and Policy in Los Angeles.

• Dr. Nicholas Rango Award for State Services—Lois Lux, M.S., R.N., Ryan White CARE Act Title II Administrator, Community and Family Health, Washington State Department of Health, Olympia, Wash., for her dedication and skills in advancing networks of HIV services in Washington.

• Gabe Kruks Award for Early Intervention Services—Montgomery AIDS Outreach, Inc., Montgomery, Ala., for implementing innovative approaches to managing and preventing HIV disease.

• Rebecca Denison Award for Family Care Services—Sara Abdirahman, Washington, D.C., who, as an immigrant African woman living with HIV disease, has worked to overcome international, cultural, and health care barriers and serves as a role model for other immigrant African women and their families affected by HIV disease.

• Russell E. Brady Award for Innovative Services Delivery—Miriam Hospital, “Project Bridge,” Providence, R.I., for creating an innovative program model that ensures continuum of care for HIV-positive inmates and drug detoxification clients.

• AIDS Education and Training Centers (AETC) Services Award—Michael E. Reyes, M.D., Pacific AETC director, San Francisco, for his leadership and commitment to the AETC program and clinician education.

In addition, HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau presented Career Achievement Awards to three former employees for their dedication and commitment to improving health care and services for people living with HIV, and developing innovative approaches to increase awareness of the HIV epidemic.  The former employees honored include: Andrew Kruzich, retired U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Capt. Eugenia “Jeannie” Foster Adams, and retired PHS Cmdr. Maria Lago.

HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau, which administers the Ryan White CARE Act, is sponsoring the conference to improve systems of care for people living with HIV/AIDS, facilitate grantee compliance with changes in the reauthorized CARE Act, increase grantees’ knowledge of administrative requirements, and enable them to share best practices.

The CARE Act funds primary care and support services for individuals living with HIV disease who lack the health insurance and financial resources for their care.  While ambulatory health care and support services are the primary focus of the program, training, technical assistance, and demonstration projects are also funded.  The federal investment in CARE Act programs in fiscal year 2002 is $1.91 billion.

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