Upstate University Hospital to use $1.5M state grant to expand HIV treatment programs

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse will use a state grant of $1.5 million to develop and expand treatment programs for people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The New York State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute awarded the grant funding, Upstate said in a news release issued Monday.

The hospital’s Immune Health Services unit (formerly called the Designated AIDS Center) will use the funding.

The expanded programming will target those who are new to care, likely to withdraw from care, at risk of dropping out of care, and those who are not virologically suppressed, the hospital said.

Program services will focus on “linking and retaining” people in care, according to Upstate.

The grant funds will expand services to provide individualized care to people newly referred for treatment, Kelley Flood, program director for Immune Health Services, said in the release.

Upstate University Hospital’s Immune Health Services unit treats about 1,000 individuals annually, Upstate said.

The grant support will help Upstate to respond to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s initiative to reduce the gaps in HIV care and decrease new HIV infections, Flood added.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com