ABC 33/40 News - December 10, 2008

Small Town Clinic Gets Big Grant
Reporter: Jeremy Campbell



A rural Alabama HIV clinic stands out among its counterparts in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles by receiving a million dollar boost.

Jennifer Mitchell opens the door to a Hobson City shelter for patients living with HIV.

She admits, "It does get hard some days because you want to help them so much and you're limited."

But this week the clinic's ability to help grew by one million dollars. It comes from a federal housing grant.

Rita Flegel, Program Coordinator at Health Services Center in Hobson City, explains "It will provide long term permanent housing for people so we're actually looking at buying properties in Anniston and Gadsden."

The shelters will house HIV patients struggling to make ends meet.

Bill Manning, Executive Director of the clinic, says "It will change lives by stabilizing the individual."

According to Flegel, "They don't have family support, they're sick. They need a lot of support and housing is the basis for that."

Patients from fourteen counties come to the center to understand medical treatment and find work while they're staying at the shelter.

There are other clinics receiving the grant. They're located in major cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. So why did a small town like Hobson City qualify for such a big grant?

According to Flegel, "The truth is the need here is just as great. In fact in the Southeast we're still seeing an increase in the number of hiv cases whereas in some of the metropolitan areas they are starting to see a decline in HIV cases."

The Hobson City Health Services Center opened in 1986 as one of the first in the rural South.

Today it's one of only two clinics in Alabama offering full service assistance from testing to treatment to housing needs.