Clinic Slashes HIV Medical Staff, Leaving 300 Patients With Reduced Care

A community health group has fired Dr. Gary Good, the infectious-disease specialist who founded Sullivan Countys' only HIV/AIDS clinic in 1994 and quickly established himself as a respected doctor and advocate for his patients. The clinic is at the Monticello branch of Hudson River HealthCare, a not-for-profit medical group based in Peekskill, New York.

The group fired Good, his nurse and a data-entry worker on Tuesday and cut the HIV social worker's time by half. Administrators would not explain the firings, citing personnel confidentiality.

"It's about effectively using our limited resources," said Allison Dubois, vice president of administration at the health center. "We're not reducing access in any way."

But HIV patients and others familiar with the program say the move is devastating, especially in Sullivan County, with the state's highest per-capita incidence of HIV/AIDS outside New York City.

About 325 county residents are living with HIV or AIDS, and roughly 12 new cases of HIV are diagnosed every year, state health records show. The vast majority of those patients were treated by Good's clinic, one of only two clinics outside New York City to treat HIV, hepatitis and drug addiction in one location.

Now that Good is gone, an infectious-disease doctor based in Peekskill will visit the Monticello clinic only once a week, Dubois said. Otherwise, the roughly 300 patients will be seen by a nurse practitioner with years of HIV experience.

Good, 52, said the new model falls short in many ways. "To have one person (the nurse practitioner) taking care of more than 200 people will be nearly impossible."

Good said he'd like to start a private practice or find a new nonprofit home for his clinic, which was partially funded by a yearly $465,000 federal grant. Courtesy Times-Herald Record.