Jun 10, 2005  |  By: ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG  | COMMENTS     

Since the Whitman-Walker Clinic announced last week that it will close its clinics in suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia, community providers, advocates and elected officials have been scrambling to ensure there is no gap in services for the clinics’ estimated 600 clients.

Whitman-Walker decided to close its two satellite clinics, as well as eliminate its food bank, a mental health program and two housing programs for clients with HIV and substance abuse problems following a financial crisis triggered, in part, by shortfalls in fund-raising efforts. Shutting down the clinics will save about $920,000 a year, according to Whitman-Walker spokesperson Kim Mills.

Officials expressed concern about clients — particularly those who are uninsured — encountering gaps in services because of the impending suburban office closures.

In 2004, about 83 percent of the Maryland clinic’s clients were uninsured and almost 3 percent were on Medicaid. From January to June 1 of this year, in the Northern Virginia clinic, 188 medical patients were uninsured and 20 received Medicaid, clinic officials said. Eighteen clients in mental health services were uninsured.

Mark Langlais, executive director of the Maryland-based Community Clinic Inc., said that gaps in services tend to be more common with the uninsured even when the providers are constant.

“These are uninsured people with complicated medical needs,” he said.

Langlais, like other providers in Maryland and Virginia that the Blade spoke with, said the closings would stretch an already taut system.

“We can see some of the [Whitman-Walker] patients,” Langlais said, adding that his clinic is a primary care provider and does not specialize in infectious diseases.

“My clinic doesn’t have unlimited resources,” he said. “We’re a safety net.”

‘This is just piling on’
The clinic shutdowns compound problems health providers in Northern Virginia already face, said Sue Rowland, executive director of Virginia Organizations Responding to AIDS. She said that this past year some primary care providers had to start waiting lists.

“This is just piling on,” she said. “It’s been a very long time since providers felt those kinds of pressures. If we’re having difficulty with basic services, something has gone awry.”

Andrew Oatman of the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry agreed that the clinic closings will put additional pressure on struggling agencies.

“The demand for services is greater than the amount we can provide,” he said. “We will try to lessen the crisis, [but] I don’t think we’re going to be able to stop it.”

To try to ensure there is no gap in care for Whitman-Walker clients, task forces will be formed in Maryland and Northern Virginia, Mills said. In Maryland, the focus is on trying to find other agencies to take on Whitman-Walker patients and services. In Northern Virginia, officials hope to keep the services in one location rather than spinning them off to other providers.

Services can’t be saved ‘overnight’
Joe Santone, director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Northern Virginia, said that most clients have been supportive but want to know what services they can count on. The goal right now is to ensure continuity in treatment, he said.

“We want to make sure whether we’re here or not our clients are served,” he said.

Gay D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), and Jay Fisette, the gay chair of the Arlington County Board, along with Whitman-Walker staff — respectively, the former director of Whitman-Walker and the clinic’s Northern Virginia facility — are working with local health officials and community providers to ensure no one falls through the cracks.

Their effectiveness will largely depend on time. Whitman-Walker said the clinics will close in anywhere from 30 to 120 days. Mills said Whitman-Walker is “committed to try to hold on for 120 days for the task forces to do their jobs.”

The task forces need four months to be successful, insists Fisette, who is serving on the Virginia committee. “It can’t be done overnight,” he said.

Sixty to 70 percent of the Northern Virginia clinic is funded by grants, so he is asking donors and the jurisdiction to “step up” to help secure the money needed, Fisette said.

The cuts will hit Arlington especially hard because half of the clinic’s patients are from Arlington, he said. The Arlington County Health Department does not provide primary medical care, compounding the impact, he said. But it’s not only the medical ...