HIV/AIDS Services
Whitman-Walker Clinic is the largest community-based
provider of HIV/AIDS services in the DC metropolitan area. The Clinic is
dedicated to providing high-quality, comprehensive, integrated and accessible
health care services to people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
In the early 1980s, the Clinic was among
the first in the nation to respond to the AIDS epidemic. As a result of the
increased demand for HIV/AIDS services in metropolitan Washington, three
regional Whitman-Walker Clinic centers were opened: Northern Virginia in 1988;
suburban Maryland in 1991 (which closed in 2005); and the Max Robinson Center
in Southeast D.C. in 1992. The
All services are available to the
Spanish-speaking community through bilingual staff and volunteers. Other
translation services are available on request.
Whitman-Walker
Clinic provides a continuum of HIV/AIDS care that includes:
o
HIV
counseling and testing: Free confidential testing for HIV is
offered to the general public with results available in 20 minutes. These tests
look for the presence of antibodies against HIV and will not show any exposure
to HIV for three to six months after infection.
o
Primary
outpatient medical services: HIV clinic,
gynecological services, dental services, HIV medications adherence monitoring
and counseling, nutritional assessments and counseling, dermatological services
and clinical trials.
o
Medical
adherence: Help for clients to stick to their treatment
regimen, keep appointments and understand their doctor’s instructions.
Assistance is also available to identify and remove barriers to successful
treatment, such as housing, food and child care.
o
Behavioral
health care: Individual, group and family psychotherapy; peer
and professionally facilitated support groups; intensive addiction treatment
program and substance abuse counseling; harm reduction and relapse prevention
groups.
o
Health promotion and disease prevention:
Outreach directed toward high-risk populations including gay and bisexual men,
African-Americans and Latinos/as. Staff and volunteers reach out to these
populations on the street, in bars and clubs and at street fairs and community
festivals.
o
Legal
and entitlements counseling: Entitlements, denial
appeals, HIV discrimination cases, HIV impact litigation, wills, powers of
attorney, custody and immigration.
o
FoodBank:
Nutritional support for people living with HIV/AIDS.
o
Day
treatment: The