For William Bearder, the early stages of his HIV positive diagnosis are understandably difficult to recall. But his ability to recount the lifesaving care he received? Crystal clear.
A Lake Geneva resident, Bearder was diagnosed with HIV more than 10 years ago, after he says he nearly collapsed at the dinner table. He was rushed to a local hospital and quickly transferred to Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in West Allis, where testing revealed a dangerously low count of T-cells, the white blood cells that act as frontline warriors of the immune system. He stayed there for a week, portions of which he spent unconscious and in intensive care. “I was really so much in denial when I was diagnosed, ignoring symptoms and ignoring everything,” he remembers. “I didn’t want to face up to it.”
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Bearder credits his follow-up care – and, in particular, the care provided by Milwaukee-based Vivent Health – with saving his life. “The emotional care that I received at Vivent Health was like none other I had ever experienced,” he continues. “It was compassionate, without judgment and dedicated. Because of that care, I was launched onto a trajectory for success.”
Said trajectory involved a comprehensive treatment plan and weekly visits that tapered to monthly, every three months and, finally, every six months. “I celebrated each of those hurdles,” Bearder says. “And, thankfully, I am still on that six-month rotation.” After one year of treatment, he was declared undetected, meaning the amount of the virus in his blood was so low that standard laboratory tests rendered it immeasurable.
Bearder says Vivent Health’s integrated care model was – and continues to be – a “support system.” At each of its 10 health centers, all services, from dental to behavioral health to pharmacy to the food pantry, are provided under one roof. “The model levels the playing field for folks, regardless of their income,” says Dr. Brandon Hill, president and CEO of Vivent Health.
In Milwaukee, Hill says, 94% of Vivent Health’s African American patients have achieved viral suppression; national averages hover around 60%-70%. “We are also narrowing a racial disparity between patients who are African American and those who are not,” he explains. “That tells me the integrated model is working.”
Vivent Health, previously known as the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, celebrated its 40th anniversary this year and now operates across six states, first expanding outside of Wisconsin and merging with Rocky Mountain Cares of Colorado in 2017. The possibility of funding cuts, however, coupled with the evolving political landscape, may inhibit future expansion. “We are still continuing to manage care with the same amount of funds – and stretching to do more, as folks are [now] aging with HIV,” Hill says. (A Vivent Health patient in Wisconsin will turn 90 this year.) “We have to be very thoughtful in our analysis, and we can’t stretch ourselves too thin. At the same time, we don’t want to see a lapse in the progress that’s been made.”
Hill particularly worries about the current federal administration’s efforts to reallocate resources away from preventative initiatives, such as testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, or the federal Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative. “Prevention,” he says, “is equally as beneficial as treatment.”
