Donations to aid those infected with AIDS

By Christine Frey
Staff Writer

The class of 1999 in the USC Primary Care Physician Assistant program helped donate approximately 100 cases of nutritional supplements to the Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center on Monday to mark the 30th Anniversary of Physician Assistant's Day.
The day commemorated the 1967 graduation of the first physician assistants' program, which trains students to become health care professionals who can practice medicine with physician supervision.
Each year, the program organizes a project that expands on the humanitarian theme founded by its national organization, the American Academy of Physician Assistants, said Robert Higham, co-president of the class of 1999. This year, the program will assist in hospice projects for terminal illnesses, such as AIDS.
Higham said they chose to work with the USC Medical Center because of the important role physician assistants have in AIDS treatment and the need to support patients.
"We wanted to find an unmet need in the community," he said.
Teri Conder, co-vice president of the class of 1999, contacted sales representative Robert Sikorski at Mead-Johnson, the company which donated the liquid nutritional supplement Sustacal. The supplement will feed 500 to 600 AIDS patients, who tend to suffer from weight loss, and help them maintain a healthy body mass, Sikorski said.
"It can certainly help patients to improve their quality of life," he said.
Sustacal will be distributed from the pharmacy on the USC Health Sciences Campus and given to AIDS patients in need of the supplement.
Since the average cost of medicine for AIDS patients is $18,000 to $20,000 a year, the donation is greatly appreciated, said Elliot Johnson, administrator of HIV/AIDS Services at the USC Medical Center.
"If it weren't for donations like Sustacal from the Physician Assistants Program and from other organizations, people wouldn't eat," Johnson said.
The USC Medical Center is an out-patient clinic which provides 30 different services, such as physician care, social work and chemotherapy, to approximately 3,000 AIDS patients a year, Sikorski said
Almost 60 students from the class of 1999 carried cases of Sustacal from the Health Sciences Campus to the medical center.
"The great thing about this is that there are PAs that work here so we are recognizing them and giving back to the community," said Kelly Hengler, co-president of the class of 1999.
"I hope that we'll find a cure," Conder said. "In the meantime, if we can help people infected with AIDS, that means a lot."