Philadelphia Inquirer Profiles Support Program for Former New Jersey Prison Inmates With HIV/AIDS

The Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday profiled Keeping Connected, a New Jersey program administered by the AIDS Coalition of Southern Jersey that provides support services to former prison inmates with HIV/AIDS. The two-year pilot program, which began last year, provides services such as mental health and substance abuse treatment to former inmates. "It's more than the HIV status. We're concerned about their general health so that they can stay whole," Thomas Sauerman, president and CEO of the coalition, said. Dafne Armstrong, director of client services for the program, added, "We provide them with local services and follow-up. We make sure they are keeping connected to these services." The program, supported by a $456,000, two-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has 28 active clients. The coalition expects to serve an estimated 250 clients over two years, Armstrong said (Polk Rhodes, Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/9).