Providence Journal photos / Bob Thayer
Colleen Scanlan, director of the House of Compassion, puts up a banner Friday for World AIDS Day.
CUMBERLAND, R.I. -- As World AIDS Day is marked Saturday, one message is that AIDS and accompanying health and financial problems are far from a thing of the past, according to Colleen Scanlan, executive director of House of Compassion, a sanctuary for people with chronic illnesses such as AIDS on Mendon Road.
Many people have long lives these days because of the drug "cocktails" that prevent the HIV virus that causes AIDS from being the death sentence it once was.
Scanlan worries about public misconception or complacency that somehow the medicines mean HIV and AIDS are not such a big deal. The current battle, Scanlan said on Friday, is for clients whose medicines are at times not covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
With the disease often a chronic condition, it means a person can experience other effects that require medical assistance -- and that entails expense. There can be liver and kidney problems, for instance, Scanlan said.
Shirley, right, an AIDS patient, and a fellow client at The House of Compassion watch television Friday in the common room.