David's House Compassion, which provides AIDS case management services, medication assistance, food, home health visits, and rental assistance to HIV-positive Toledo, Ohio, residents, will close on April 1 due to funding shortfalls, the Toledo Blade reports. Eight staff workers will be laid off immediately, with the remaining five let go by the end of April. The agency's building will be sold to pay off outstanding debt, which is estimated to be about $200,000. Agency officials blame the funding shortages on falloffs in private donations.
"Our private money donations simply dried up, and to continue operations would mean digging a deeper and deeper hole," David Arnold, David's House president, told the Blade. "Our case load has risen every month and every year for the past five years. But most people think the AIDS epidemic is over." The agency served about 500 HIV-positive patients and their families. Clients are now being directed to other organizations for case management services, Arnold said.
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