About Florida AIDS Walk
In April of 2006, thousands of caring and thoughtful individuals from across the state gathered in Fort Lauderdale for the first Florida AIDS Walk, demonstrating their commitment to reversing the course of the AIDS epidemic in Florida. One hundred percent of the funds raised went to HIV/AIDS program initiatives in Florida, providing testing, helping to purchase a new mobile clinic for the South Florida region, and supporting the Magic Johnson Healthcare Clinic.
Every year since then, Florida AIDS Walk has grown in number of participants and funds raised for Florida’s HIV/AIDS affected community. While donations to the Walk continue to subsidize all of the Florida programs and initiatives from its first year, the Florida AIDS Walk has gone on to invite various different Florida organizations with programs that support its residents living with HIV/AIDS to be Beneficiaries of the event – enabling them to keep every penny of every dollar that they raise for themselves, and additionally receiving a generous financial gift, to add an extra boost to their own programs.
In 2012, the directors of Florida AIDS Walk re-invented the event as Florida AIDS Walk and Music Festival, moving the entire experience to Fort Lauderdale’s beautiful beach, and cutting the length of the Walk in half to make room for a celebrity-filled concert at the Walk’s end. Feedback for the change was overwhelmingly positive, and the event has been infused with an entirely new energy! As we look to 2013 and beyond, we hope to see Florida AIDS Walk and Music Festival continue to grow, and take its place among some of the larger AIDS Walks in the country which raise millions of dollars to support the community every year!
Florida AIDS Walk is produced by Event 360 for AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS prevention, education, accessible healthcare, research and patient advocacy. In Florida, AHF currently serves more than 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. AHF’s Out of the Closet Thrift Stores, offers free HIV testing and treatment referral through an AHF Pharmacy built adjacent to the store.
About AIDS Healthcare Foundation
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the world’s largest AIDS organization. AHF provides care for more than 145,000 people, and administers more than 100,000 HIV tests annually. AHF also conducts medical research to investigate potential new treatments and cures, provides HIV prevention education, and operates free treatment clinics throughout Florida and the U.S. as well as in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Serving the HIV/AIDS Community in Florida
In Florida, AIDS Healthcare Foundation serves more than 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS through a variety of programs, including: AHF NorthPoint in Fort Lauderdale, the AHF Magic Johnson Healthcare Centers in Miami and Jacksonville, the AHF Tampa Bay Healthcare Center, Wellness Centers in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, HIV testing and prevention programs throughout the State, AHF Pharmacy, Out of the Closet Thrift Stores, a mobile medical clinic, two mobile HIV testing vehicles, Positive Healthcare managed care programs, and a statewide disease management program.
Positive Healthcare Disease Management takes a comprehensive approach to the management of HIV disease, providing physician consultations and intensive care management focused on adherence to treatment regimens. Each patient is assigned a registered nurse as his or her personal Care Manager. The program also emphasizes education by disseminating clinical practice guidelines to both patients and providers.
Positive Healthcare Managed Care operates in Dade and Broward counties and is the nation’s first managed care program for HIV-positive people.
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AHF’s Out of the Closet Thrift Stores in offers free HIV testing and treatment referral through an AHF Pharmacy built adjacent to the store. AHF’s nonprofit pharmacies employ only HIV specialists; all profits received are reinvested in AHF’s local and global programs.
A Legacy of Life
From its first days as a hospice, to now helping thousands around the world through life saving anti-retroviral therapy, AHF is leaving a legacy of life. AIDS Healthcare Foundation pledges to fight this disease no matter whom it afflicts, or where it is found. Only when HIV is eradicated from the globe will we fully meet our goal. For more information, please visit http://www.aidshealth.org/.
