March 16, 2005 -- A federal grant that helps the U.Va. Health System provide primary care and early intervention to patients with HIV or AIDS has been renewed, beginning April 1.

The Ryan White Title III program of the Department of Health and Human Services will provide $2.15 million to U.Va. over five years for early intervention and primary care services for people with HIV and AIDS. The services at U.Va. that will benefit from the grant include early health care intervention, primary care, education, transportation, counseling, testing, and treatment.

When U.Va’s Infectious Diseases Clinic lost a Title III grant last summer, the leadership at the U.Va. Medical Center immediately stepped in with funding to cover the gap. Care for HIV/ AIDS patients was not interrupted.

“We are extremely grateful that the Medical Center came through for us during a time of need,” said Dr. Gregory Townsend, an infectious disease specialist and associate professor of internal medicine at U.Va. “The leadership provided funding so the Ryan White Clinic at U.Va. could stay afloat and continue to offer its vital services to patients with HIV or AIDS in Virginia and elsewhere.”

Besides funding essential services and treatment, the Ryan White grant will allow the HIV/ AIDS clinic at U.Va. to expand. There are plans to open up a satellite HIV/ AIDS clinic at Augusta Medical Center later this summer, Townsend said. U. Va. also hopes to open up telemedicine offices for HIV/ AIDS patients at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg and Norton Community Hospital in Norton, Va. by the end of the year, he said. About 700 patients with HIV or AIDS are treated at the U.Va. clinic, some from as far away as North Carolina and West Virginia.