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AIDS Community Resources of Syracuse, N.Y., is now called
Access Care and Resources (ACR) Health. The healthcare agency changed its name
to reflect its expanded services. In addition to providing healthcare for
HIV-infected individuals, the agency also will treat people on Medicaid
suffering from other chronic diseases such as asthma, heart disease, high blood
pressure, serious mental illness, obesity, and diabetes.
ACR serves approximately 230 HIV/AIDS-infected individuals
in nine counties in Central and Northern New York. According to Michael
Crinnin, ACR Health’s executive director, if the agency did not expand its
services, the state would have stopped funding the HIV/AIDS program. The agency
is dependent on state funds to serve its clients with HIV/AIDS, but
approximately two years ago the state informed the agency that it would
continue funding the HIV/AIDS program only if the agency agreed to include
individuals with other complicated healthcare needs through the state’s new
Medicaid “Health Home” program.
Crinnin explained that because of the stigma attached to
AIDS, some patients did not want to use an agency that was meant for people
with HIV/AIDS. Also, patients with HIV/AIDS did not want the agency’s
newsletter and literature mailed to their homes because they did not want
relatives and friends to know of their diagnosis. On the other hand, some
donors were displeased by the name change because they viewed it as betraying
their loved ones who died of AIDS.
