The doctor is in: Clinic opens at renovated PATF space
A newly expanded and renovated Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force operation opens today in East Liberty, changed from the times since PATF first formed in 1985 to offer legal advocacy and emotional and practical support for people dying of AIDS.
Now, in addition to existing social services, the $1 million in renovations provides a new testing center for HIV and sexually transmitted infections and an expanded food pantry and pharmacy spaces that will all be integrated with the services of a new medical clinic. Led by medical director Sarah McBeth, the clinic will provide specialized HIV/AIDS medical care as well as routine primary care for clients and their family members.
Dr. McBeth, who also works part time at the UPMC Pittsburgh AIDS Center for Treatment, brings her expertise to help HIV patients keep their viral load low and deal with any related health problems.
“With the medicines that we have now, it’s a manageable disease,” she said. Dr. McBeth has a long-standing interest in infectious disease, having worked in microbiology before she went to medical school. It was after working in Mozambique, where HIV/AIDS is an epidemic, that she decided to focus on HIV care.
Integrating social services and medical care at PATF has been a year in the making, said Sean DeYoung, chief executive officer.
“We’ve always had transportation and legal aid, medical case management, the pantry and support for people who are HIV positive, free testing and special outreach,” Mr. DeYoung said. “Our new services will be medical; other clinics are getting full.” Behavioral health services are also planned, and dental care may be added in the future.
“We want to get more people into medical care,” Dr. McBeth said. She said PATF case management services, help with housing and the food pantry (open Sunday through Thursday) are a big draw, and she hopes people will take advantage of the walk-in clinic. One group of hard-to-reach patients are 14-to-24-year-old men who have sex with men, particularly men of color, Mr. DeYoung said.
At the current rate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict, about 1 in 2 black men who have sex with men will be diagnosed with HIV during his lifetime. Testing, treatment and prevention aim to change that statistic.
“It’s kind of intimidating from a medical aspect,” Dr. McBeth said. “The medications for HIV have changed a lot, and continue to change, over the last few years. It’s a rare primary care doctor who feels comfortable dealing with it. It’s still one pill a day, but drugs have changed a lot. It’s difficult to stay on top of, if it’s something that a doctor doesn’t see a lot.”
HIV prevention medication, known as PrEP (for preexposure prophylaxis), is for people at very high risk for HIV. Taking the medicines daily will lower their chances of getting infected.
“We’ve had a lot of increased demand over the past few years,” Dr. McBeth said. “Both from people who are partners of HIV patients and people who have highrisk sexual behaviors. I think a lot of that is due to outreach by PATF. More information is going out to the community. We’re trying to get funding to get PrEP to uninsured people at risk.”
Just because it’s treatable, doesn’t mean HIV isn’t devastating, she said. “Even one case of HIV is too many. It means a lifetime of treatment. That’s really hard.”
The new clinic will also help patients stay up to date with immunizations and manage their higher risk of health problems as they get older, including cardiovascular, lung or liver disease and certain cancers.
Other sexually transmitted infections will be treated and monitored as well, including chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
“Syphilis is on the rise, nationally and in Pittsburgh. It’s still readily treatable,” Dr. McBeth said. It’s a dangerous infection and has long-term health effects. “It’s something we intend to test for and treat.”
One of Dr. McBeth’s specialties is the treatment of hepatitis C in patients who also have HIV. PATF does free confidential HIV, STI and hepatitis C testing Monday through Friday and Sunday.
By late 2017, access to counseling is planned in new offices at the site, to deal with mental health and substance abuse issues.
“If we could get people into counseling if they need it, as soon as possible, that would be great,” Dr. McBeth said.
PATF is at 5913 Penn Ave., East Liberty. More information: 412-345-0592 or www.patf.org.