Showing posts with label Aids Support. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aids Support. Show all posts

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Day 265: Wasn’t this news released last December? Review

I am never opposed to more press coverage of HIV, but the big story today seems to be an old one. The CDC reports that instead of the approximately 40,000 new HIV infections in the U.S every year, in 2006 we actually had about 56,000 new infections. That’s a huge difference. They used a new surveillance method to come up with this number.

As you may note (as carried in this blog), the same data were released on World AIDS Day last year. The Wall Street Journal reported then that the U.S. incidence was about 60,000.  The CDC is saying this is a wake-up call—but the wake-up call should have been (at least) 8 months ago! Well, we’ve never done enough on HIV, and I don’t think the increased U.S. incidence estimates will do anything to change that. Should we start taking bets on whether HIV gets any debate time in the upcoming elections?


24th Street-Mission Bart Station
San Francisco, CA 94110
Neighborhood: Mission

AHF Pharmacy Review

I'm really glad this place opened inside the Duboce Triangle Out of the Closet.  All the people who work here a really friendly, and they seem truly committed to what they do.  While waiting for my prescriptions to be filled, I've watched the staff really helpfully answer questions, and it seems like they know their customers well.

A pharmacy in a thrift store?  Yup, you bet.  Like Out of the Closet itself, AHF Pharmacy is a nonprofit whose earnings get put back into the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.  I really like this funding model for a few reasons.  First, it gives me yet another opportunity to get something I already need without padding anyone's pockets, and second, it's really nice for a nonprofit to actually be able to at least partially fund itself rather than relying solely on grants, which often come with strings attached.

AHF Pharmacy is a full-service pharmacy, so you can get any prescription filled here.

If the ridiculousness of the for-profit healthcare model is beginning to disturb you, why not get your prescriptions filled at AHF Pharmacy?

"But, John S.," you say, "you're being inconsistent.  Don't you say in a review of a non-chain pharmacy that people should support the little guy instead of Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS?  And isn't the little guy the neighborhood independent pharmacy?  And isn't the neighborhood independent pharmacy a for-profit enterprise?"  Wow, I'm really impressed by your proper use of commas and question marks, and your reasoning also seems impeccable.  To answer your questions, I did say all that, and I still think you should give AHF your business.

Look, I love old-school pharmacies.  I wish there were more of them.  I wish they could supplant the Walgreenses of the world.  But the only independent pharmacy I know of in San Francisco that still serves individuals--there used to be another one close to my house but they now only serve St. Mary's patients--is in the 450 Sutter building.  My dermatologist is also in that building, so when I get a prescription when I'm there, I'll gladly patronize that mom and pop.  But I'm not about to trek to Union Square every time I need a prescription filled; I will, however, go the extra mile--er, 0.82 miles--to support AHF Pharmacy.

100 Church St
(between Duboce Ave & Reservoir St)
San Francisco, CA 94114
Neighborhoods: Hayes Valley, Castro
(415) 552-0350