On The United Way: Turning to The League Mike Field ----------------------- Staff Writer Caring for a loved one with AIDS can be difficult, especially when a job and other family obligations must be performed. For many, the specialized care required when a person with AIDS enters the advanced stages of the disease becomes simply overwhelming; often, the AIDS patient ends up in a nursing home because the family cannot cope with the demands of 24-hour care. The problem is especially acute in Maryland, which has the sixth largest number of people with AIDS in the country while ranking only 24th in population. Now, thanks to a special grant from the United Way, help may be at hand. The region's first AIDS adult daycare health center is slated to open next month at The League, a nonprofit program in Baltimore serving people with physical disabilities. The facility will provide social work, case management, recreational activities and comprehensive nursing care in a daycare setting for AIDS patients from Baltimore City and its surrounding counties. Patients will be selected by referral and will need to live within a one-hour car ride of the center. Only those patients with a T-cell count less than 200 and a history of at least one opportunistic infection will be eligible to enroll. The League expects an enrollment of 60 patients, 20 of whom will attend on any given day, based on the experiences of the five other AIDS adult daycare centers that currently exist nationwide. "We're trying to keep people with AIDS from having to go to the hospital or end up in a nursing home," said Michele Hughes, director of rehabilitation at The League. "A daycare program provides respite for the primary healthcare providers and family members involved. Our society is based on the family unit, and this program is aimed at keeping the family together." The AIDS daycare center will result in considerable healthcare costs savings as well, Hughes said. Delivery of healthcare services in a daycare setting costs only about half of what those same services cost in a nursing home. Although the center expects eventually to be almost entirely financially self-sufficient, initial start-up costs were approximately a quarter of a million dollars, of which $244,900 was supplied by a one-time United Way Community Initiatives grant. "This is the first major AIDS project of this sort that the United Way has funded in this area, and I believe it's a big step," Hughes said. "The United Way should be applauded for having the foresight to help create a program that serves such a profound need. This money will make a big difference in the lives of many families throughout Central Maryland." ***************************************************************** The university and hospital faculty and staff have reached 29% of their $800,700 goal. The university has reached 43% of its $573,700 goal, with pledges totaling $244,429. In that campaign, the School of Engineering has reached 85% of its $19,000 goal. The hospital has reached 22% of its $232,000 goal, with pledges totaling $50,000. *****************************************************************