HIV Headlines Two Big Events During One Week in Chicago [VIDEOS]

The AIDS Run & Walk Chicago raised $520,000, and Howard Brown Health opened its five-story LGBTQ and HIV clinic in Lakeview.

October 6, 2023 • By Trent Straube

Chicago’s HIV community got a double dose of good news recently. During the last week of September, Howard Brown Health, which operates LGBTQ health centers, opened a five-story clinic in Lakeview. A few days later, the 32^nd annual AIDS Run & Walk Chicago, which raises funds for AIDS Foundation Chicago and over 25 community partners, brought in $520,000.

Over 2,500 Chicagoans participated in the event at Soldier Field, reports ABC7Chicago.com (watch the segment above). “We are seeing tremendous declines in new HIV cases by about 25% over the last five years in Chicago, which is incredible. But the challenge is we haven’t seen new cases decline among all groups equally,” John Peller, president of AIDS Foundation Chicago, told the news channel. “And so we really need to double down on racial health equity to make sure that Black and Latinx people have the same opportunities to prevent HIV as their white counterparts.”

Howard Brown Health has been serving Chicago’s LGBTQ community—including by providing HIV services—since 1974. It now operates 10 clinics, including the five-story location at 3501 North Halstead Street in Lakeview.

The new location boasts 38 exam rooms and 12 dental chairs and expects to see 23,000 patients a year, including people who don’t have insurance, according to another ABC7Chicago.com report (see the segment below).

“We needed this building to address access; patients couldn’t get appointments on the North Side,” Howard Brown’s vice president of external relations, Katie Metos, told the news channel. “The specialty care here is dental and then two floors of primary care, lab services.”

The location includes a Walgreens and, according to HowardBrown.org, offers geriatric and aging services, pediatric services, health services for women and youth living with HIV, trans and nonbinary people and men.

What’s more, Howard Brown Health’s team in the AIDS Walk & Run Chicago, raised nearly $15,000. Although the walk is over, donations are being accepted until November 10. Click AIDSRunWalk.org to donate and for more information.