AIDSLaw of
Louisiana, Inc.
2005 FINAL REPORT
Grant No. 2005-0002
Board of
Directors 2007
J. Dalton Courson
J. Keith Greenlee
Lesli Harris
Tim Hornback
Natacha M. Hutchinson (Chair)
James P. Kovata (Treasurer)
Judy A. Pace (Secretary)
A. Gerald Pelayo
Richard G. Perque
Carroll Rodrigue
Staff
Linton Carney, Executive Director
Iska Clark Beck, Supervising Attorney
Lisa Mirman, Staff Attorney
Louise Bienvenu, Staff Attorney
Sam Ashley, Intake Specialist
Karl Rumbaugh, Intake Specialist
Christal Hurst, Paralegal
During 2006, AIDSLaw of Louisiana, Inc.
(�AIDSLaw� or �ALL�) continued to provide significant legal, outreach,
education and advocacy services throughout the entire State of
Louisiana. During that year, some of AIDSLaw's operations were funded by
IOLTA Grant No. 2006-0002. The final approved IOLTA budget for 2005 was
$35,000.00, and AIDSLaw used these funds as indicated.
Throughout 2006, AIDSLaw has continued to provide
services to the many indigent persons living with HIV/AIDS who have HIV-
related legal difficulties. Additionally, through presentations,
publications and outreach activities, the organization has provided
information on HIV-related legal issues to medical and social services
providers who work directly with persons living with HIV/AIDS, and to
agencies and community based organizations that serve people with
HIV/AIDS.
CLIENT DEMOGRAPHICS
Despite interruptions in service caused by
Hurricane Katrina, by late 2005 AIDSLaw had reestablished its services.
Due to changes in funding, AIDSLaw began collecting client statistics
differently beginning March 1, 2006 for clients living in the eight
parishes surrounding New Orleans (Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St.
Bernard, St.Charles, St. James, St. John and St. Tammany). In the New
Orleans area, New Orleans helped 610 unduplicated clients during this
10-month period, and assisted with 870 legal matters. In the remaining
56 parishes outside the New Orleans metropolitan area, AIDSLaw served
699 clients in calendar 2006, but note that these figures include people
from the New Orleans metropolitan area who were served in January and
February of 2006 before the change in funding. For the period of March
1, 2006 to December 31, 2006, 495 clients were served in the 56
parishes. Clients are eligible for AIDSLaw�s services if they are
Louisiana residents; have HIV/AIDS; and earn less than 200% of the
federally established poverty level, or 400% in the New Orleans region.
All clients served in 2006 were Louisiana
residents and met financial eligibility guidelines. In addition, all
clients served in 2006 were infected with the HIV virus. Statistics for
the year 2006 reveal that 44.1% of ALL clients were diagnosed with AIDS,
with an additional 8.7% being HIV-symptomatic and 46.1% asymptomatic.
Among new clients, the numbers were somewhat different, with a slightly
lower number with an AIDS diagnosis (42.5%) as defined by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, and more being HIV-asymptomatic
(53.9%).
In 2006, AIDSLaw served clients in 44 of the 64
Louisiana parishes, in every major metropolitan area, and in all Public
Health Regions as defined by the Office of Public Health. Of the clients
in the 56 parishes outside New Orleans, the vast majority lived in the
Baton Rouge area:
| Area | Clients |
| Alexandria | 3.6 % |
| Baton Rouge | 74.2 % |
| Lafayette | 4.2 % |
| Shreveport | 5.4 % |
| Houma | .6 % |
| Lake Charles | 4.2 % |
| Hammond | 1.6 % |
| Monroe | 4.8 % |
These statistics show an increased presence in the Baton Rouge area where AIDSLaw has increased services due to the very high rate of infection in that region. In 1999, 77% of the clients lived in the New Orleans area (Public Health Region I), as compared to 67% in 2000, 71% in 2001, 61.1% in 2002, 50.3% in 2003, and 57.6% in 2004. In 1999 clients from the Baton Rouge area comprised 3.7% of the total. In 2000, the figure was 10.2%, and in 2001 the figure was 7.8%. In 2002, the figure increased dramatically to 19.3%, due in large part to increased presence in the area through an additional scheduled on-site visit every month. In 2003, due to a third monthly on-site visit, the figure had increased to 34.5% of total clients, in 2004 the figure dipped slightly to 29.1%, and in 2005 it increased to 30.4%.
In the past few years, AIDSLaw has also experienced a dramatic shift in its client base away from white males. In 2005, 63.5% of all of AIDSLaw�s clients were African-American, an increase from 63.2% in 2004. In 2006, in the New Orleans metropolitan area, 56.1% of all of AIDSLaw�s clients were African-American, while Caucasians accounted for 39.8% % of overall clients. Hispanic persons accounted for 3.7% of all clients, and 2.7% of new clients. In the New Orleans area, women constituted 21.8 % of all clients. Among men, approximately 55% were African-Americans, but among women the figure was over 88%.
In the 56 parishes outside the New Orleans area, 63.8% of all clients seen in 2006 were African-Americans, slightly above the 2005 figure of 63.5%. African-Americans also represented 73.7% of new clients seen in 2006. Caucasians accounted for 30.8 % of overall clients, but only 22.6% of new clients. Hispanics accounted for 2.7% of all clients, and 1.8% of new clients.
The HIV virus
continues to affect more women in Louisiana and across the nation. In
2006, for the sixth consecutive year, women constituted over 20% of
AIDSLaw�s clients. In the New Orleans region, women constituted 21.8% of
all clients, but in the 56 other parishes women accounted for 27% of all
clients and 36.4% of new clients, as compared to 31.4% in 2005, 30% in
2004 and 28.9% in 2003.
TYPES OF
SERVICES
As in previous years, AIDSLaw provided a
broad range of legal services. In 2006, the most common categories of
service outside the New Orleans area were:
| Services | # Clients |
| Notarial Services | 480 |
| Public Benefits | 166 |
| Estate Planning/Successions | 118 |
| Family Law | 34 |
| Discrimination | 22 |
| Debtor/Bankruptcy | 10 |
| Confidentiality & Transmission | 7 |
| Insurance/Employee Benefits | 6 |
| Other | 4 |
(Please note that figures add up to more than 699 clients since some clients received more than one type of service.)
In the New Orleans metropolitan area in 2006, the most common categories
of service were:
| Services | # Clients |
| Notarial Services | 623 |
| Public Benefits | 71 |
| Estate Planning/Successions | 43 |
| Family Law | 6 |
| Discrimination | 8 |
| Debtor/Bankruptcy | 16 |
| Confidentiality & Transmission | 3 |
(Please note that figures add up to more than 610 clients since some clients received more than one type of service.)
Although notarial services remain the most requested services, there has
been significant growth in requests for assistance with obtaining public
benefits. In 2006, for the fourth consecutive year, more clients were
assisted with public benefits than with estate planning. Statistics also
reveal that more staff time was spent on public benefit cases than in
any other service area (approximately 42% of staff time in the non-New
Orleans areas, approximately 37% of staff time for clients from the New
Orleans region).
Throughout its history,
AIDSLaw has made it a priority to adapt services to the needs of the
infected population of Louisiana. When the agency was started, most
HIV/AIDS cases in Louisiana were in the New Orleans area, and most of
the agency�s clients were white men, many close to death. These clients
most frequently needed help with estate planning. By 2006, clients came
from every part of Louisiana, over 30% of clients were women, two-thirds
of clients were African-Americans, and most were not in the end stages
of life. During the same interval, medical advances made access to
health care critical for people living with HIV/AIDS. Simply put, as
HIV/AIDS has become more of a chronic but manageable disease, people die
without health care, while they have a good chance of surviving if they
get it. As the progression of the AIDS pandemic changed, AIDSLaw�s
services changed from a focus on estate planning for the terminally ill
to multifaceted efforts to ensure access to health care for clients in
order to prolong their lives. Obtaining public benefits is the best
service AIDSLaw can provide to clients who are chronically poor.
At the end of 2003, AIDSLaw applied for a COPE grant from Harrah's New Orleans Casino. AIDSLaw sought $20,000 for partial funding for a position to assist client with initial Social Security applications. In April 2004, AIDSLaw received $10,000 from Harrah's to fund the position, albeit on a part-time basis. On June 1, 2004, the position was filled and work began. In order to continue and expand the program, AIDSLaw applied to Baptist Community Ministries and the Methodist Health System Foundation in March 2005, and in late May received word that the grant applications had been approved. The revenue from Baptist Community Ministries was designed to fund most of the supervising attorney�s salary, half of the full-time staff attorney�s salary, 10% of the executive director�s salary, some fringe benefits for the three positions, a portion of the facility�s rent, part of the financial audit, medical records, and part of the telephone and postage expenses. The grant from Methodist Health System Foundation was designed to fund a new part-time paralegal position. Both contracts became effective August 1, 2005 and were for three years.
Since Hurricane Katrina, AIDSLaw has continued the grant with Baptist Community Ministries for a second year starting August 1, 2006. The grant from Methodist Health System Foundation was suspended and the paralegal initially was laid off but was rehired effective February 1, 2006 with different funding. Since August 1, 2006, the paralegal�s salary has been paid partially by Baptist Community Ministries.
Before Hurricane Katrina, AIDSLaw assured access to its services by maintaining an office staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week, in the New Orleans Central Business District, where it was easily accessible by car or public transit. Hurricane Katrina caused AIDSLaw�s staff to evacuate from New Orleans. Attorneys provided services outside New Orleans until the office became accessible in mid-October. Due to storm damage, the office building was closed and AIDSLaw operated from temporary offices beginning November 7, 2005 at 507 Frenchmen Street. The following week, AIDSLaw began providing services one day a week at the temporary HOP Clinic on Tulane Avenue.
In March 2006, AIDSLaw moved into office space provided by NO/AIDS Task
Force, 2601 Tulane Avenue, Fifth Floor, New Orleans, LA 70119. In 2006,
AIDSLaw began providing services two to three mornings per week at the
HOP Clinic. These changes have provided mutual clients with the benefit
of a one-stop shop for services the three agencies can provide. AIDSLaw
also sees clients from all other AIDS service organizations in the New
Orleans area, and has continued its program of off-site visits to
regional AIDS service organizations to see clients in other areas of the
State.
OUTREACH SERVICES
ALL has continued to provide outreach services
during 2006 at numerous community based AIDS service organizations
throughout the State. AIDSLaw attorneys make regular monthly visits to
GO-Care in Monroe, Acadiana CARES in Lafayette, Southwest Louisiana AIDS
Council in Lake Charles, CLASS in Alexandria, and the Philadelphia
Center in Shreveport. In 2002, AIDSLaw expanded its service to the Baton
Rouge area, where infection rates outpace those in New Orleans, and an
AIDSLaw attorney went one day per month to Family Service in Baton
Rouge, and then spent a second day at Volunteers of America in Baton
Rouge. Beginning in 2003, AIDSLaw increased this schedule to add a third
day per month for on-site visits to clients in the Baton Rouge area, and
in late 2005 a fourth day upon demand. AIDSLaw attorneys also go on
request to other service providers, and attend special functions to meet
potential clients who might be too reticent to contact an attorney
directly, or who do not realize that they have legal concerns that need
addressing.
To ensure that clients outside the New Orleans metropolitan region continue to have access to AIDSLaw�s services, AIDSLaw has a toll-free 800 number with statewide service. AIDSLaw also has 24-hour voice mail to make sure that calls placed after hours are not missed. Clients also increasingly contact AIDSLaw through electronic mail, even more so after the storms.
Before the storms, AIDSLaw coordinated the efforts of almost 100 volunteer attorneys throughout the State who could help clients. Updating and reestablishing this network has been an important job in 2006, since this aspect of the legal services program at AIDSLaw is such a crucial element in assuring that the thousands of Louisiana citizens affected by HIV and AIDS receive prompt and competent legal representation. To date, we have re-established contact with over 60 attorneys.
Homebound/non-ambulatory outreach efforts are of great importance to AIDSLaw�s clients due to the extreme physical deterioration that many of them experience. AIDSLaw attorneys have a long record of providing services on-site at almost all medical facilities in New Orleans, as well as throughout the State. In other parts of the State, AIDSLaw has provided services at Moss General Regional Hospital in Lake Charles, E.A. Conway Hospital and Franciscan House in Monroe, LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, Huey P. Long Medical Center in Alexandria, University Hospital in Lafayette, and several hospitals and nursing homes in Baton Rouge. Storm damage in New Orleans curtailed services at Charity Hospital and other institutions, the VA Medical Center, Methodist Hospital, Memorial Medical Center, Tulane Medical Center, and University Medical Center, but since the storms AIDSLaw attorney have been to most reopened hospitals in the affected area to help clients. In addition, since the storms, AIDSLaw attorneys have been providing services on-site at the reopened HIV Outpatient Clinic in New Orleans. AIDSLaw also has a long history of collaborating with residential programs for people with AIDS in all areas of the State. AIDSLaw attorneys also go to see seriously ill clients in their homes.
AIDSLaw continued to focus on substance abuse issues in response to the increased number of clients who are HIV-positive and dealing with drug addiction and/or alcoholism, behavior likely to exacerbated by the storm trauma. Due to the unique legal issues facing this population, in 1999 AIDSLaw prepared a pamphlet, HIV and Substance Abuse: A Legal Guide for Social Workers. In addition, HIV and Criminal Liability, published in 2002, specifically discusses liability for sharing needles. In 2002, AIDSLaw staff researched and prepared a new pamphlet to address the myriad legal problems surrounding substance abuse for persons infected with HIV. The pamphlet, HIV and Substance Abuse, in question and answer form, was published in 2003. From 1999 through 2004, AIDSLaw�s executive director served on the steering committee of the New Orleans Practice Improvement Collaborative (NOPIC), a group dedicated to bringing together researchers and practitioners in the substance abuse field, and as a consultant on a grant to NOPIC from the Centers for Substance Abuse Treatment. The executive director was also a consultant for the follow-up grant, Strengthening Access and Retention (STAR), until it ended in September 2006. After the storm his role was expanded to conduct focus groups with clients and staff at Bridge House as part of an effort to determine gaps in services and unmet needs.
In order to foster coordination of HIV-devoted resources, AIDSLaw�s executive director served on the New Orleans Regional AIDS Planning Council until September 2004, and he continues to attend meetings as a non-member. The executive director also participates in the Consortia Leaders Meeting held for other regions of the State in order to represent AIDSLaw and to conduct legal outreach efforts to the citizens of Louisiana affected by HIV.
As in past years, AIDSLaw has continued to work with other organizations
to reach and provide legal services to a broad and extremely diverse
clientele. In order to coordinate efforts among non-profit legal groups,
AIDSLaw�s executive director serves on the Access to Justice Committee
of the Louisiana State Bar Association. In 2006 he served as chair of
the subcommittee that organized and staged the Louisiana Justice
Conference held on November 3 and 4, 2006 in Baton Rouge.
EDUCATION
As part of its mission to educate the general public on issues
surrounding HIV disease, AIDSLaw in 2005 provided presentations to
audiences throughout the State. AIDSLaw attorneys have addressed
audiences at entities ranging from universities, schools of social work,
churches, civic organizations, and support groups for people living with
HIV/AIDS. Many of these presentations are made to high risk populations
who may not self-identify as having HIV.
In late January 2002, an AIDSLaw attorney presented a paper on HIV infection in public schools to the Super Conference on Special Education in Baton Rouge. AIDSLaw staff attorneys also work closely with Delta Regional AIDS Education and Training Center in New Orleans, providing frequent training for medical professionals and students regarding HIV and the law and contributing articles to that organization�s newsletter. In 2001, ALL participated in developing a training course for case managers for HIV/AIDS patients in the New Orleans region. The training was conducted in 2001 and 2002 at Southern University in New Orleans, and AIDSLaw attorneys taught the sections on consumer rights and responsibilities and on confidentiality. In 2003 AIDSLaw collaborated with NO/AIDS Task Force and Delta Region AIDS Education and Training Center to design a series of trainings for health care personnel. AIDSLaw also has been asked to participate in the telemedicine conference series designed by Delta Region AIDS Education and Training Center, and in June 2004 an AIDSLaw attorney addressed health care professionals at the State�s nine regional public health hospitals. In addition, as part of the expansion of services for clients seeking disability benefits, AIDSLaw has developed a program to educate social works and case managers about the Social security system so that they can assist their clients with initial applications and thereby expand capacity in this area.
For the past several years, AIDSLaw attorneys have written articles for The Clinician, a publication for health care professionals serving people with HIV. Recent topics include HIV and incarceration, HIPAA requirements for HIV service agencies, access to experimental medical treatments and procedures, Louisiana�s new Living Will statute as amended in 2005 (publication delayed due to the storm), and the proposed new directives on HIV testing and counseling issued by the Centers for Disease Control and prevention.
As part of its outreach and education programs, AIDSLaw has developed a website (https://www.aidslaw.org), designed free of charge by a former board member. The website contains information about AIDSLaw, its services, eligibility requirements, the board of directors and staff, and upcoming events. Many of AIDSLaw�s publications also are now available on-line in both html and pdf formats. In addition, AIDSLaw is linked to the statewide website that connects Louisiana non-profit legal providers.
For almost 10 years, AIDSLaw has staged a continuing legal education program. The 2005 program, which featured sessions on handling small successions and representing clients in disability cases, was canceled after Hurricane Katrina. During December of 2006, AIDSLaw hosted a Continuing Legal Education program in conjunction with Prime Time CLE Institute. Held on December 13, the 6.75-hour program was entitled "In the Eye of the Storm�. The program featured a variety of topics and some distinguished speakers. Among them were the Hon, Jerry A. Brown, United States Bankruptcy Judge, who spoke on the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005, and the Hon. Edwin A. Lombard, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, who addressed post-Katrina changes in state court procedures. In addition, Laura Tuggle of New Orleans Legal Assistance spoke on housing law, while Iska Beck of AIDSLaw and Chris Gracianette of the Social Security Administration spoke on Medicare Part D, and Linton Carney of AIDSLaw gave a presentation on professionalism.
In summary, this year's project has adequately and thoroughly met the
required goals and objectives as set forth in the grant proposal and in
IOLTA Grant No. 2006-0002.
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