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LifeCare Alliance’s Project OpenHand-Columbus program provides nutritionally appropriate meals to central Ohio individuals living with HIV and/or AIDS as well as medical nutritional therapy to those with a dual-diagnosis of HIV and diabetes. With these services, clients can free up expenses to address the costs of maintaining their disease and live life more abundantly.

With Project OpenHand-Columbus’s focus on helping the low-income as well as under or uninsured HIV/AIDS population, we have found clients face multiple barriers to accessing food and nutrition, including, but not limited to, financial, cognitive, physical/mobility and support system. In 2019, 90% of program clients were living on an annual income of less than $20,000.

With limited income, clients are typically unable to obtain food meeting their dietary, medical, or cultural needs. When clients have a dual diagnosis of HIV/AIDS and diabetes, they have further complications addressing their health and ability to pay for medications, treatment, housing, and groceries. Even though significant medical advances have turned HIV/AIDS diagnoses from being death sentences to being treated more like a chronic illness, some clients are still socially isolated with a fractured family system, leaving them alone in combating their disease.

We would not be able to serve those with HIV/AIDS without the help of supporters like Broadway Care/Equity Fights AIDS. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS helps men, women, and children across the country receive lifesaving medications, health care, nutritious meals, counseling and emergency financial assistance. Since 1988, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses through donations collected in those red buckets. If you have ever been to a Broadway touring production at your local theatre, you probably have seen red buckets at the exits/entrances of the different seating areas and have witnessed cast members from the production talk about Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. If you live in central Ohio and have attended a show at the Palace or Ohio Theatres, you probably have heard them give a shout-out to LifeCare Alliance and Project OpenHand-Columbus!

Without funding partners like the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, LifeCare Alliance would not be able to serve our central Ohio neighbors with responsive, compassionate, and quality care.

To find out how you can make an impact in our Project OpenHand-Columbus clients lives, click here:

Learn more about Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS by visiting https://broadwaycares.org/