Southwest Center For HIV/AIDS To Expand Wellness Center.
$1.1 Million Gift from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation will allow the Phoenix Nonprofit to Provide a Holistic Approach to Care that Includes Measuring the Impact of Naturopathic Medicine
Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS recently received a $1.1 million grant from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation to expand its Wellness Center. The grant covers a 3-year plan that includes additional wellness services, a research component designed to measure the impact of naturopathic medicine on people living with HIV/AIDS and bring a new Vitamin Shop to The Parsons Center for Health and Wellness, home of Southwest Center.
“From the very beginning, our agency was focused on two primary priorities – client advocacy and access to alternative therapies. This most recent grant from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation has expanded our ability to save lives, exponentially,” said Kirk Baxter, Founder of Southwest Center. “I am alive today thanks to the programs funded by the Parsons.”
The Wellness Center is an important part of Southwest Center’s plan to build a new model for an integrative and integrated health care facility. Integrative medicine is a philosophy based on the whole-person-approach and utilizes both conventional and alternative therapies as appropriate. This model brings all members of the healthcare team together, working collaboratively for individualized care. The team often includes the client, care providers, a behavioral health therapist, a dietitian and providers of complementary and alternative approaches such as acupuncture or Reiki.
“Like me, many people are only one-degree of separation from someone who is impacted by this terrible, and misunderstood disease,” said philanthropist and entrepreneur, Bob Parsons. “In addition to continuing to work towards a cure, we need to ensure we are providing the best possible care for those living with HIV and AIDS.”
In 2013, Southwest Center launched The Parsons Center for Health and Wellness to help raise critical awareness and expand the reach of its programs. The facility combines prevention and education programs, health and wellness services and research and clinical trials into a single location.
“We are committed to helping people with HIV and AIDS live longer and healthier lives. Along with providing groundbreaking treatment, the important work being done by the Southwest Center is bringing hope to the HIV positive community” said Renee Parsons.
The mission of the Southwest Center is to lead the fight against HIV and AIDS by reducing infection, improving quality of life and contributing to worldwide research. Today, thousands of people around the world are taking HIV and AIDS-fighting drugs that earned Federal Drug Administration approval, thanks in part to the Center’s clinical trials and biomedical research program.
“This recent donation from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation helps ensure that Southwest Center is able to provide life changing care to those most in need,” said Southwest Center CEO Cindy Quenneville.
Southwest Center provides complementary services in partnership with three local Naturopathic schools – Southwest Center for Healing Arts, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture – to provide naturopathic services to those living with HIV/AIDS. To learn more about the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS visit, www.SWHIV.org.
About Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS
Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS is the only organization in the Southwestern U.S. to combine prevention and education programs, health and wellness services, as well as research and clinical trials in a single location and reaches more than 30,000 at-risk individuals each year. Southwest Center has helped to bring 32 of the 34 available HIV/AIDS medications to market, contributing to worldwide research as well as supporting Arizona’s biosciences industry.