Published on August 04, 2011
Alexian Brothers AIDS Ministry Extends Reach With Facility On Chicago's South Side
The Alexian Brothers AIDS Ministry expanded to the south side of Chicago today with the blessing and dedication of a permanent supportive housing facility for people with HIV/AIDS. The opening of Alexian Brothers Bettendorf Place “represents a milestone in the evolution of our 21-year-old AIDS Ministry,” says Brother Jim Classon, C.F.A., Chairperson of the Alexian Brothers Health System (ABHS) Board of Governors and Provincial of the Immaculate Conception Province of the Alexian Brothers.
“It extends our continuum of HIV/AIDS care beyond the transitional housing services that we have provided for years at Bonaventure House on Chicago’s north side and The Harbor in Waukegan. It also brings our AIDS Ministry to Chicago’s south side for the first time.” Located in a converted convent at St. Mary Magdalene Parish, Alexian Brothers Bettendorf Place is designed to serve people who are living longer with HIV/AIDS because of advances in drug treatments but are having difficulty finding housing.
“As the disease has evolved and the medications have evolved, we have shifted our mission to helping people live happy, healthy, productive and stable lives while living with HIV/AIDS,” says Michelle Wetzel, President and Chief Executive Officer of the AIDS Ministry. “It’s a much different focus than when we first opened our doors and we literally were caring for people who were dying, helping them to die with dignity and with somebody caring by their side.”
Alexian Brothers Bettendorf Place includes 23 studio apartments and a one-bedroom apartment for a resident case manager. It also features a computer learning center funded by a grant from the Daughters of Charity. Known as The Caritas Center, it will offer computer-skills and GED (general equivalency diploma) classes to residents of the facility and the surrounding community. “It has taken six years for this facility to come to fruition, and we’re just thrilled that it’s finally opening and that we will be able to serve clients on the south side of Chicago,” Wetzel says.
Residents of Alexian Brothers Bettendorf Place were expected to begin moving into the facility in September. They will be required to pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, and government subsidies will cover the balance. Through the on-site case manager, residents will be able to tap the same support services that Bonaventure House and The Harbor residents are required to use.
The AIDS Ministry combined its annual Founders Day celebration with the Aug. 4 blessing and dedication. During the celebration, Wetzel presented The Alexian Award of Excellence to St. Mary Magdalene Parish and its pastor, Father Freddie Washington, thanking and honoring them for their partnership and support in the development of Alexian Brothers Bettendorf Place.
The AIDS Ministry also honored David Dempsey, Director of Clinical Services for the ministry, as its Staff Person of the Year. Cesar Caballero, an AIDS Ministry volunteer who helped the ministry revamp its Web site (www.bonaventurehouse.org), received the ministry’s Volunteer of the Year Award.
Alexian Brothers Bettendorf Place is named in honor of the late Brother Felix Bettendorf, C.F.A., who spearheaded the establishment of the AIDS Ministry in 1989. In a recent restructuring, the AIDS Ministry became part of Alexian Brothers Health System (ABHS) after existing previously under the umbrella of Alexian Brothers of America, Inc. The restructuring will benefit the AIDS Ministry by providing greater access to ABHS resources, Wetzel says. “We can now have a more direct relationship with the health system and its corporate departments, which will help to grow and to sustain the ministry,” she says.
