St. Petersburg – Individuals living with HIV/AIDS will soon have their first home for comprehensive care in Tampa Bay. Empath Health’s AIDS Service Associaion of Pinellas, Inc. (ASAP) and Pinellas Care Clinic are partnering to open “Home 3050,” a facility where patients can receive a full spectrum of care in one convenient, comfortable location.
“Our first and foremost mission is to fully meet the needs of the community in Pinellas the Tampa Bay region,” Rafael Sciullo, Empath Health president and CEO, said. “Our care is patient-centered; they are the core and greatest teachers, so we listen and respond to them.”
Home 3050, named for its location at 3050 1st Ave. S. in St. Petersburg, is expected to open in early fall. The facility will offer primary care, HIV specialty care, pharmacy, counseling, benefits services, medical case management, HIV and STD testing, therapeutic and support groups, and prevention and wellness education.
William Harper, ASAP executive director, said his primary vision is to provide a comprehensive and compassionate place where clients can feel at home for whatever their needs may be.
“I just really want people to feel that when they come here, they are cared for,” Harper said. “I want to feel like what we’ve done for them is embrace them and brought them home.”
Sciullo said Home 3050 will include specific outreach for the LGBT community. He said the timing of the project is perfect in addressing LGBT needs because of increased benefits resulting from marriage equality.
“We want to be part of a healthcare continuum that accepts the LGBT community and embraces them,” Sciullo said. “We have a number of focus groups already, so we will continue to have those and to provide that sense of home that’s so important to them.”
Although the project’s undertaking began a year ago, the idea has been in the works for years. Harper felt ASAP could offer medical services as a way to expand and improve services to clients. He began looking at potential partnerships with community organizations that fit ASAP’s mission and were comfortable with the work ASAP does with its clients. Harper said he felt especially comfortable with Bay Care, Pinellas Care Clinic’s parent organization, and that many of ASAP’s clients were already being seen at Pinellas Care Clinic. Jimmy Baumgartner, Bay Care director of research, said he and Harper have been working together for over 20 years.
“William and I have such a long history together,” Baumgartner said. Our two organizations have clinical and psychosocial experience, so the union is quite powerful.”
ASAP’s pharmacy received approval as a 340B program which requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs at reduced prices. Harper said the pharmacy was the backbone of the ASAP and Pinellas Care Clinic integration.
“Empath Health and Bay Care have a working relationship in the community.” Harper said. “Our partnership can provide a continuum of care for an entire lifetime.”
The project encompasses two adjacent buildings. Currently, construction is taking place at Empath Health’s Community Service Center, the smaller of the two buildings. ASAP sits at the larger building but will be relocating to the bottom east side of the smaller building which will house its office and social services program. Once ASAP moves, construction will begin on the larger building and will become Home 3050.
“I’m excited that clients can take one bus, see medical providers, pick up their prescriptions before they leave here, see case managers, pick up food from the food pantry and go home all in one stop,” Harper said. “Many of our clients live under the poverty level and, therefore, don’t have a lot of extra expendable income to use on transportation, so this will help them.”
Harper said the biggest challenge so far has been for everyone involved to wrap their minds around being able to achieve such a large goal.
“It’s daunting to take on a project of this size,” Harper said. “We had to buck up and say, ‘It’s going to happen.’ It helps that the parent organizations have been extremely supportive along the way. We didn’t have to go to the board and fuss to please give us a chance.”
The community has had a large hand in bringing Home 3050 to fruition. Harper said every penny of funding has been raised within the community by those who understand ASAP’s work and wanted to help make the project happen. Home 3050 has received $420,000 in funding and is only $80,000 away from the final goal.
“I can’t tell you how humbled and thankful I am to have this kind of support from our community,” Harper said. “It’s beyond what I can put into words.”
“The community support we have felt and the donors who have come forward send such a good, positive message to us and everyone in the Tampa Bay region,” Sciullo added. “We know we truly have something people are going to look forward to and are going to access.
Harper said Phase 1 will include services for the HIV-positive, but he is hoping to include future phases with services for non-HIV-positive family members and, eventually, pediatric and dental services.
“It probably sounds a little cliché but the benefit for the patient to come to one place and access so many services gives me chill bumps,” Baumgartner said. “This is a true medical home able to meet the needs of these patients from start to finish.”
For more information or to make a donation, visit EmpathHealth.org/health-care-solutions/home-3050 and LIKE Home 3050 on Facebook.
