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CARES is the Sacramento area's leading provider of HIV/AIDS services and the second largest provider of such services in Northern California, including the San Francisco Bay Area. The center was established in 1989 through a partnership of Sacramento County and the area's four major hospital systems - Catholic Healthcare West, UC Davis Medical Center, Sutter Health, and Kaiser Permanente. This unprecedented cooperative venture has proven to be an amazing success story. The CARES Coordination of Care Model reduces obstacles to treatment by providing a full range of the most current medical, dental, pharmaceutical and psychosocial services at one location. This innovative approach allows clients to take care of multiple needs in one visit, from seeing a physician to meeting with their case manager or therapist and picking up medications. A single point of access to care helps clients stay in treatment and adhere to their prescribed course of therapy.
CARES provides services to approximately 2,250 HIV positive people annually. In 2010, the center provided over 35,000 total visits for medical, psychiatric, dental, mental health and substance abuse care.
CHW/Mercy Hospital's role
Consistent with its mission of providing compassionate care to all, CHW/Mercy is a co-founder of CARES and, over the last 15 years, has donated more than $1.2 million to the organization to help meet the medical and social needs of local HIV/AIDS patients and their loved ones. Bob Kamrath is the Executive Director of CARES.
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A Personal Story
In August of 2000 I stepped foot in the CARES clinic and I was in crisis mode. I was treated expeditiously, with dignity and respect. I had heard about this state-of-the-art facility in the treatment of AIDS, located in Sacramento, that was on the cutting edge of treatment. What I did not know until I entered the building that first day was that CARES is not only state of-the-art in their method of treating AIDS, but they are in the business of providing hope, dignity and compassion. I truly believe that I am still alive today because of CARES' multifaceted approach to treatment. CARES was very aggressive in the treatment of my difficult case. My doctor worked tirelessly looking for the most affective therapy possible, as it meant life or death for me. He never gave up and he continued to focus on improving my quality of life.
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