You can’t stitch an apple and an orange together and pass it off as having addressed the issue of client service.
Client counts, reassessments, policy and procedures manuals and other trappings of internal operations seem to be the focus at the Department of Health Services AIDS/HIV Program when it comes to their attempts to help AIDS Network correct the severe organizational deficiencies that have been uncovered during the past year.
What is getting lost in the mix are the clients and the extreme disparity of services provided in the southern region of Wisconsin when compared to service levels in other areas of the state.
During the past two month there has been much written about the disparity of service levels. We have highlighted the abysmal record of AIDS Network to provide services and pointed out the fact that the 13 county AIDS Network service area is the worst place to live in Wisconsin when it comes to ASO provided services.
We now hear rumblings that the disparity is being addressed. A dental clinic with no specifics attached to it and no plan to pay the ongoing expenses; Mental health/AODA services being provided by a six hour a week mental health therapist before AIDS Network had systems in place for allowing access to the service by non-Ryan White eligible clients. Remarks in the press by Karen Dotson that a food pantry is a possibility, yet no specifics on how it’s going to be paid for.
It’s not enough to say you are going to provide service and address the issues. You have to deliver. And you have to deliver service of equal quality and with the same level of accessibility as provided in other areas of the state.
The fact remains that AIDS Network is held hostage to their current level of service provision due to an ineffective development function. There are no major supporters; no large corporate contributors, no planned giving efforts and no accountability or transparency in their fundraising efforts (ACT Ride, Red Ribbon dinner, etc.) We have an agency where the front line staff to director level positions is out of whack.
The HIV/AIDS community, for all intents and purposes, is being held hostage by an organization mired in the past. We are being denied access to the same level of service provided in other areas of the state due to a dysfunctional and co-dependent relationship AIDS Network has with the DHS AIDS/HIV Program; a relationship that allowed these issues to go unchallenge for years.
During the next few days we will be highlighting past posts on the disparity of service issue, both to acquaint our new visitors and to remind all of us that this must remain our central focus.
