Community AIDS Network celebrates 25 years

It’s been 25 years since the Community AIDS Network opened its doors with a mission to increase awareness and stem the spread of AIDS. Twenty-five years later, its mission remains the same, but its reach has greatly expanded.

Community AIDS Network CEO Richard Carlisle said AIDS was an epidemic when the organization was founded in 1991.

Hospitals lacked the medicine and resources to treat HIV before it progressed to AIDS, making a diagnosis a death sentence. However, science has changed that. An HIV diagnosis doesn’t spell the beginning of the end, though the disease still poses a significant threat, he said.

“People were dying of AIDS, and now with the new drug regimen people don’t die like they used to. But the disease is still spreading rapidly,” Carlisle said.

The Florida Department of Health says HIV diagnoses have increased in the past two years. The department reported that 4,374 people were diagnosed with the disease in 2013. In 2015, that number had risen slightly to 4,868. The Community AIDS Network website says Florida is No. 1 in the United States for newly diagnosed cases.

The disease also poses challenges prior to diagnosis — it’s unlikely a person who is HIV-positive will exhibit symptoms.

“The first two or three years you have it, you have no idea you have it,” Carlisle said.

Carlisle remembers when the primary focus of the organization was to provide support to people with AIDS. However, rigorous drug regimens now keep HIV from progressing to full-blown AIDS, but the nature of the disease still creates a variety of care issues.

“You’re subject to get more of the diseases that the everyday population gets, but unfortunately you get them earlier,” Carlisle said. “Cardiovascular problems, cancer, any of the diseases that the population as a whole encounters, HIV patients encounter, but they generally encounter those earlier.”

The Community AIDS Network offers support, testing and education for AIDS prevention, and now has 23 clinics around the state to address the full spectrum of HIV-related symptoms.

Carlisle said that as the organization grows, there will be a renewed focus on research and education to prevent and treat HIV. Although science and medicine have provided a better understanding of the disease, Carlisle said the threat is as relevant as it was 25 years ago.