HOW WE SEE IT: Public Health Matters More Than ‘Peanuts’

Posted: November 16, 2009 at 5:34 a.m.

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LITTLE ROCK — The Benton County Quorum Court has decisions to make regarding the 2010 operating budget - some easy, some hard.

Deciding whether to give $17,000 to the Washington County HIV Clinic should be an easy one, but the Quorum Court is making it difficult.

First, some background: Last year, the HIV Clinic came to the Benton County Quorum Court seeking cash; it needed $34,000 to hire a muchneeded additional staff member. Though the clinic is in Fayetteville, about 40 percent of itspatients come from Benton County. With that in mind, the Quorum Court agreed to the funding request, but stipulated that in 2009, the clinic must determine a sustainability plan that did not rely on taxpayer dollars.

According to Beverly Williams, a former Benton County justice of the peace and now chairman of Northwest Arkansas HIV Community Support Inc., the clinic has made strides toward attaining 501(c)(3) status. The clinic is asking only for $17,000 to get it through the first half of 2010; by then, Williams said, it should be able to support itself.

But some justices of the peace are frustrated with what they see as a lack of urgency on the clinic’s part. They think the clinic should have weaned itself off taxpayer support by now. For that reason, they’re willing to play the part of Ebeneezer Scrooge and deny the clinic its modest request.

Benton County Justice of the Peace Bobby Hubbard not only doesn’t want to give the clinic $17,000, but instead wants to invest that money in the county’s new convenience centers, which provide people a place to dispose of electronics and large household items.

Preposterous: No offense to the convenience centers - they indeed make life easier for many residents - but since when are they more important than a public-health matter such as HIV?

Hubbard’s recommendation is a spiteful slap in the face not only to the clinic, but to the more than 600 Northwest Arkansas residents who rely on the clinic’s services.

If the county wants to have a public-policy debate strictly about whether it should be giving money to organizations such as the HIV clinic, fine. However, depriving the clinic of the money based on its failure to meet some loosely defined stipulations would be petty. As Williams put it, “We’re talking about taking care of people for pretty much peanuts.”

The HIV clinic is the only place in Northwest Arkansas that patients can go for treatment. Many HIV patients can’t afford to go to Tulsa, Okla., or Kansas City for the help they need, and many can’t afford health insurance. Without the HIV clinic, then, they would be filling up space in the emergency room when they become seriously ill. And because the hospital invariably winds up eating the cost of their treatment, that cost gets passed along to others in the form of higher insurance rates.

Under the care of a qualified doctor like the one at the Washington County HIV Clinic, an HIV patient can learn to manage his disease so that he can continue to be a productive member of society - something that should concern us all.

Besides providing the building, Washington County is giving the clinic about $39,000 this year. Given that many of the patients are from the county to the north - including 18 of the 33 new patients that the clinic has seen this year - $17,000 is not a lot to ask of Benton County.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/16/2009

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