HEMPSTEAD, NY — World AIDS Day was commemorated on Friday. The international day was established in 1988 to keep the spotlight on the illness.
Options for Community Living, or Options for short, headquartered in Ronkonkoma with satellite offices in Amityville and Hempstead, has been assisting residents for years in dealing with AIDS.
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“What progress have we made in the world of HIV and AIDS?” said Allison Covino, program director at Options for Community Living.
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With so much done in the advancement of treatments, Covino said the goal of ending the epidemic “is something we can really start to talk about as a real thing.”
Options started providing housing and support to adults with mental illness more than 40 years ago. By the early 1990s, the nonprofit became focused on the AIDS crisis.
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“It was a scary time,” Covino told Patch.
But AIDS is no longer the death sentence that patients faced in those early years of the disease.
“It’s been a lot more of a positive experience since people started doing so much better on these antiretroviral therapies and medications that became something that helped them live healthier and independent lifestyles,” Covino said.
The tide turned on the disease by 1997, as AIDS-related deaths declined by 30 percent in the state. Although the number of persons newly diagnosed with HIV in New York dropped by 46% in the decade ending in 2021, more than 100,000 people in the state were living with HIV, according to data provided by Options for Community Living.
They offer several housing programs for individuals and families across Long Island, from Valley Stream to Riverhead. But Options for Community Living has additional services, including Medicaid care coordination, health education for people with HIV.
“The awareness is important to make sure people are still talking about it,” Covino said.
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