HIV/AIDS Patients Receive
Comfort
Philadelphia,
PA – Their internal terror is hidden from us. We can’t imagine
the hopeless feeling a man or woman experiences when testing positive for
HIV. Time will determine if it matures into to full blown AIDS. Learn how
Operation Blessing partnered with the Esperanza Health Center’s Hope
Team in their efforts to bring HIV and AIDS patients a hand of comfort.
After a drug overdose left him
comatose for three months, 39-year-old Jose was transferred to a Philadelphia
nursing home for rehabilitation. A friend of his asked Joanne Betancourt,
Esperanza Health Center’s HIV program coordinator, to make a visit.
“When I saw him I noticed he showed signs of having AIDS,” she
said. “He used to be a 210 pound, almost 6-foot tall, blue-eyed, handsome
man. He now was frail and probably weighed less than 75 pounds.”
Time went by and Jose eventually agreed to begin rehabilitation as well
as get tested for HIV. There was no surprise when the results came back
positive. On the family’s behalf Esperanza representatives met with
the nursing home and doctors to ask that Jose live his remaining days
at home. Jose was able to leave the nursing home on April 8th, 2002. He
celebrated his birthday the following day in a new apartment that Esperanza
staff helped obtain. “During the months that followed, Jose accepted
the Lord,” Joanne recalled. “There were many days that he
was happy and ministered to those around him.” He died June 19th.
“There are many more stories,” shares Joanne. “We have
shared the gospel, we have laughed, we have cried and we have mourned.
God has used Esperanza to minister to many. It seems that more men and
women are dying of this disease at a faster rate.”
Home of the fourth highest rate of HIV in the United States, “the
badlands” area is in north Philadelphia. It’s a place were
over sixty-five percent of students don’t finish high school. More
than forty percent of the families live right at or below the poverty
level. However, in the midst of these depressing statistics, a ray of
light beams from the basement floor of a local medical office building.
Fighting against the area’s high rate of HIV for over twelve years,
the Esperanza Health Center’s Hope Team targets adults affected
and infected by HIV/AIDS as well as those who are at high risk for infection.
The Hope Team also incorporates abstinence and other means of behavior
to avoid contracting AIDS into their education program. The majority of
patients are women over 18-years-old, but then there are also men like
Jose.
Recently Operation Blessing came alongside Esperanza in their fight against
HIV and AIDS in their community. Over 120,000 HIV test kits arrived at
the center’s door on February 4th. The shipment of tests will allow
them to funnel funds to other needs.
The Esperanza Health Center has been serving this designated medically
under served area since the 1980’s. “Compelled by Christian
faith, in cooperation with the church and others, Esperanza seeks to change
lives by providing health care oriented to the physical, emotional and
spiritual needs of Philadelphia’s Latino community,” comments
David Winningham. The staff of less than forty full and part-time physicians,
counselors, nurses, physician assistants, case workers, administrative
personnel as well as the HIV/AIDS Hope team handles the appointment book
filled with approximately 13,000 appointments every year!
Your gift of $40 or more can help bring comfort to the countless people
living without health care.
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