Another Kind of Chicago Hope

"It's a safe place.  People who work here don't throw on gowns
and masks to work here.  They come to hug and touch people."  So
says Michael Brickman, executive director of the AIDS Alternative
Health Project, a Chicago-based health care clinic that treats 
people with HIV and AIDS.

Founded in 1986 by a small group of health care practitioners who
were committed to helping people fight and live with AIDS, the
AIDS Alternative Health Project (AAHP) has grown to become the
largest complementary health care clinic for persons with HIV and
AIDS in the Midwest, and one of the largest clinics of its kind
in the country.  The project is designed to help patients with
AIDS live more comfortably with the disease.

Operating with a volunteer staff of 75, including chiropractors,
psychologists, acupuncturists, and massage therapists, AAHP has
provided care to HIV and AIDS patients in the Chicago area for
the past decade.  Since the program's inception, more than 2,500
people have received services at AAHP clinics.  In 1995 alone,
more than 12,000 client treatments were performed at AAHP's 
sites; that number has since risen to more than 15,000 treatments
per year.

As the population of AIDS patients has grown and become more
diverse, AAHP has continued to maintain an open-door policy towards
all people with AIDS.  Over the last two years, AAHP has expanded
its services to include three sites.  In addition to its main clinic
in the Uptown area, AAHP also operates clinics at Cook County
Hospital and the Rafael Center of the Heartland Alliance for Human
Needs and Human Rights.

In April 1996, AAHP also formed a partnership with St. Joseph's
Hospital, in an attempt to bridge the gap between traditional and
alternative forms of medicine.  Under the agreement, St. Joseph's
patients with HIV or AIDS will receive complementary alternative
services at AAHP; in return, the hospital's physicians will provide
traditional medical treatment at the project's clinic sites.  The
physicians from St. Joseph's will be under the supervision of Dr.
Dion Richetti, DC, AAHP's recently-appointed medical director.

AAHP services are intended to help patients deal with symptoms of
HIV infection, ease the side-effects of drug therapies, and lessen
the pain and stress often associated with the disease.  By combining
traditional primary medical care with alternative therapies, AAHP
offers more than two dozen Eastern and Western treatment modalities,
including:

* Chiropractic and physiotherapy treatments
* Acupuncture
* Nutritional counseling
* Orthobionomy
* Craniosacral therapy
* Individual and group mental health therapy

"It's really complementary to traditional medicine, especially
for patients experiencing side-effects of combination drug therapy
treatments," said Dr. Richetti.  Services are provided by AAHP on
a sliding-fee scale, depending on the client's income.  Some
clients pay no fees at all.

Recent surveys show that AAHP's methods are having a positive
effect on their patients' well-being.  In their most recent survey,
AAHP found that 90 percent of their clients reported "a significant
difference in their quality of life," while 89 percent of clients
felt that AAHP was "important or very important" in their overall
treatment related to HIV.

Perhaps the words of one recent patient, known only as JoAnne C.,
put it best: "When I came to AAHP, I was ashamed and alone.  I
didn't feel worthy.  But the staff said to try this therapy and to
try that therapy, and everybody was so supportive.  So I tried this
and I tried that, and it worked.  I felt better.  I could eat
again.  I know that I wouldn't still be here without AAHP."

Dynamic Chiropractic, January 27, 1997