This story was originally published by The Telegraph.
The HOPE Center, a Macon-based clinic serving people with HIV/AIDS, unveiled a new location this month.
Located in a spacious medical complex and built specifically for health care, the new location will allow the HOPE Center to expand services and provide more privacy to patients.
“Being able to expand and grow with our patient population is just really going to be for the benefit of their health care progress,” said Holly Ireland, interim director of the HOPE Center.
New space, new opportunities
Ireland said the move to the new space has been years in the making. The clinic used to be located off Emery Highway, in a converted storefront near Piedmont Macon.
The location was small, and because it had not been built as a health care facility originally, it was hard to install equipment or create adequate space for the clinic’s roughly 1,400 patients.
Dr. Harold Katner, who founded the HOPE Center in 1989 at the height of the AIDS epidemic, said that locals had also learned that the building housed an HIV clinic, making people hesitant to seek or keep up treatment there for fear of facing stigma.
“Patients felt stigmatized,” Dr. Katner said. “It’s a problem … people drop out of care because they may see somebody they know.”
The HOPE Center started looking for new space in 2022. Ireland said they found the space off Arkwright Road about a year and a half ago and were eager to move in.
The clinic completed the relocation process at the end of 2024, and Ireland said the new year felt like a perfect time to unveil the new space.
“With that growth in this new facility, we are able to offer just a better array of services,” Ireland said.
In addition to having more space and privacy for patients, Ireland said the new location presents a chance for the HOPE Center to expand its services. The clinic will open a dental clinic for their patients later this year, a goal made possible thanks to the larger, ready-built location.
Tackling HIV holistically
The HOPE Center, which is now operated through the Georgia Department of Public Health, aims for a holistic approach to treating and preventing HIV/AIDS.
The clinic’s services include mental health care, transportation services to and from the clinic, housing assistance, case management and drug assistance in addition to traditional medical services.
Katner said approaching HIV/AIDS care holistically is important because of the barriers that make it hard for people to seek and keep up with treatment.
“We try to be expansive because it’s not just taking the pill everyday, it’s having a place to take the pill, it’s having a place to sleep, it’s all these stresses,” Katner said.
According to the National Institute of Health, HIV is most prevalent among people who are at or below the federal poverty line. Additionally, patients with HIV often struggle to access care because of a lack of transportation, health insurance and limited availability of specialized HIV/AIDS care.
In addition to offering care for people with HIV/AIDS, Ireland and Katner said the HOPE Center also works on education and outreach programs to help prevent the spread of HIV.
Around 13% of people living in the U.S. with HIV don’t know they have it and need testing, according to data from the National Institute of Health. The South also has a disproportionate number of people living with HIV, with nearly half of new infections being recorded here.
Katner said that while treatment is a major mission of the HOPE Center, the key to eradicating the virus lies in education and prevention efforts..
“If you treat not just the patients but also work on prevention, we could stop this disease,” Katner said.
Credit: The Telegraph
Credit: The Telegraph
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