Colorado Aids Project & Howard Dental Center seeking to merge

On March 5, two Colorado HIV advocacy organizations — Colorado AIDS Project and Howard Dental — announced plans to combine services.

“We’re really excited about it and hope that the communities out there that we’re serving will be so as well,” said Ernie Duff, Executive Director of the Howard Dental Center (HDC).

For the last 20 years, HDC has been assisting those living with HIV and AIDS with oral health care, offering curtail care to individuals who are often refused dental services.

The proposed merger of HDC with the Colorado Aids Project (CAP), which as of yet has not been finalized, would greatly increase the potential number of patients HDC can treat.

“We currently have five operatories, and we serve 900 patients a year,” said Duff. “With the new scenario, we will have eight operatories and be able to serve 2,000 a year, which more than doubles our capacity and begins to address the systemic concerns around oral health care in the population throughout the metro area.”

Duff said that of the estimated 9,000 HIV positive people in the metro area, only 4,000 are in active (health?) care, and only 29 percent of those 4,000 individuals are being treated for oral health care.

“That just tells you how big the need is,” said Duff. “If you look across the country, Howard Dental Center is really, as far as I know, the only standalone, specialized oral healthcare clinic of this sort working with this population.”

Not only would the merger mean HDC moving to a larger facility and expanding the number of patients it serves, but the union would also foster the opportunity to provide comprehensive services outside of the Denver-metro area.

“This will allow us to have a platform to begin to evolve a truly state-wide oral healthcare collaborative,” said Duff. “And that’s very exciting.”

HDC split from CAP in 1994, so in a sense, the possible merger is also a reunion.

“We’re seeking to rejoin where we came from because we want to collaborate, we want to integrate,” said Duff. “We want to make it the very best kind of one-stop shop for the patients.”

Darrell Vigil, Chief Executive Officer of CAP, touched on the impact a successful merger will have on those who utilize the services of both CAP
and HDC.

“With health care reform, we need to move in the direction of being able to provide more services to clients and patients at one location,” said Vigil, adding that CAP has plans to develop additional services in other areas as well in the next couple of years.

“We really see this as a way that we can come together and benefit our clients and patients in the long run,” said Vigil. “I think it’s a great step for both organizations, so I’m very hopeful that the legal process will be successful.”