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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2008.141275v1 99/6/973    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Wright, M. A. Articles by Knopf, A. S. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wright, M. A. Articles by Knopf, A. S. Related Collections Access to Care HIV/AIDS Homelessness African Americans/Blacks Socioeconomic Factors Urban Health

Maurice Alexander Wright, MD and Amelia Shaw Knopf, MPH, RN

At the time of this study, Maurice Alexander Wright and Amelia Shaw Knopf were with the SOME medical clinic, Washington, DC.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Amelia Shaw Knopf, Northwest Center for Public Health Practice, 1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98195-4809 (e-mail: ameliak{at}u.washington.edu).

African Americans face a higher burden of HIV infection, morbidity, and mortality than other ethnic groups in the United States. As an organization that exists to serve the homeless and impoverished of Washington, DC, So Others Might Eat (SOME) works diligently to address this disparity. SOME's clients are primarily African Americans who often face obstacles to HIV care because of low socioeconomic status, mistrust of the medical establishment, and fear of being identified as HIV positive. We relate the lessons we learned at SOME's medical clinic while trying to better address the needs of our clients living with HIV/AIDS. Chief among those lessons was the need to shift from considering our patients "noncompliant" with their HIV-related care to recognizing they had needs we were not addressing.