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Friday, May 11, 2012

NAPWA's Bailous appointed Chair of DC EMA Ryan White Planning Council


The National Association of People With AIDS  (NAPWA) salutes the appointment of NAPWA Executive Vice President Stephen Bailous as Chairman of the Washington, D.C. Eligible Metropolitan Area (EMA) Ryan White Planning Council. Bailous was sworn in as Chairman Tuesday evening, May 8. As Chairman, Bailous will lead the Planning Council in its work of  planning for comprehensive delivery of HIV/AIDS services and allocation of  resources across the EMA.

Bailous brings deep experience and an extensive record of successful service to his new  responsibilities with the Planning Council. He entered the field of HIV/AIDS services in 1998, caring for his ill partner and friends, before moving on to HIV community mobilization and service as Horizons Community Center's Director of Operations. He moved to New York in 2003 to work for the Mayor's Office of AIDS Policy, and was then promoted to serve as Director of PLWHA Initiatives for the New York City Department of Health. In that capacity, Bailous coordinated consumer involvement in both the Prevention Planning Group and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Planning Council. He serves on the board of SMART, a community-based organization in NYC, and is a member of National Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition (NGMAC).

Bailous joined NAPWA in 2006 as Vice President for Community Relations, charged with providing training and leadership development services for consumers and implementing Community Mobilization projects. Bailous also worked with NAPWA's Capacity Building Programs targeting HIV-positive persons and their partners and led NAPWA's highly successful D.C. Consumer Advocacy project for PLWHA needing support to enter and stay in care and Bayard Rustin Project promoting HIV awareness, testing, and linkage to care among young, gay black men. Promoted to Executive Vice President in January, 2012, he is now responsible for all areas of NAPWA's operations.

"I'm excited to pursue this new opportunity," Bailous stated, "because we're at such a crossroads in health care in this country. This year's National HIV Testing Day, coming June 27, will be the most important Testing Day in years, because we know now that treatment-as-prevention works - we can end the epidemic by extending testing and treatment to all who need them. So this is a moment of historic opportunity, knowing for the first time that we really can make AIDS a thing of the past, and knowing that full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 will go a long way toward providing the resources to get the job done.

"It's also a time of challenge," Bailous continued. " The Affordable Care Act will change the structure of health care in America, and we have to be prepared for what this will mean for delivery of HIV services. This is a challenging and exciting time to be leading the Planning Council."

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!