Chase Brexton Health Services has come a long way since it got its start in 1978.
Originally founded as an alternative to the city?s sexually transmitted disease clinics for gay men and as a counseling center for gay men and lesbians coming to terms with their sexuality, the nonprofit community organization today has become more of a primary care provider treating a variety of illnesses across the population.
“About 60 percent of the patients we see today are women and 65 percent are not gay or lesbian,” said Dave Shippee, the center?s executive director. “It?s become much more of a community health care focus rather than a community of sexual minorities.”
Craig Wiley, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore, said that while the organization?s focus shifted to include the entire population, it has had an impact on the local gay community.
“Having a place where you can go and feel comfortable with your doctor is hugely important and over the years they have really grown their services,” Wiley said. “Having a plethora of services available is important to any community but having them serve our community has really been great.”
Shippee said that about one-third of the center?s patients are uninsured, while one-third are eligiblefor Medicaid and the other one-third have traditional commercial insurance. When he came onboard 15 years ago, Shippee said Chase Brexton had an annual budget of $600,000 and 10 employees and its major focus was on treating HIV disease. Today, the organization boasts a budget of $34 million and employs 162 people.
“Certainly it was very grassroots at the time. A lot of the clinical services were rendered by volunteer providers,” Shippee said. “Over time what we?ve really accomplished is moving beyond a total focus on HIV disease so that we?re now dealing with a myriad of health care issues.”
That?s not to say, though, that HIV treatment is not a significant focus for the organization today.
“I think we?ve evolved with the epidemic in many respects,” Shippee said.
Shippee said that in the early days of the epidemic, which recently hit the 25-year mark, the major focus was on management of the disease with very limited drug treatments, primarily among gay men. In the 1990s as the epidemic spread to other groups, the organization shifted its focus from just the gay community to other populations that were being infected such as I.V. drug users.
Today, with drug treatments available that allow HIV patients to live longer, healthier lives, the organization finds itself charged with treating illnesses among HIV patients that are generally associated with aging, such as diabetes and heart disease.
“Those are things have really added a new dimension to us as an organization,” Shippee said. “A lot of our success is that we have patients who have been with us for 20 years who were diagnosed with HIV in the mid-80s who are living productive, healthy lives.”
