LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization today and which began its journey providing care and services to HIV/AIDS patients 35 years ago in Los Angeles providing hospice care to people dying of AIDS, today mourned the passing of noted AIDS activist and openly gay Black preacher Reverend Carl Bean, an icon in the fight against stigma and discrimination in communities of color.
Early in the AIDS pandemic, AHF named one of its three AIDS hospices in honor of Rev. Bean. AHF operated the 25-bed Carl Bean House in the West Adams District of South Los Angeles from 1992 to February, 2006, when it ceased providing hospice services at the site due to decreasing need thanks to lifesaving antiretroviral medications as well as corresponding funding cuts for end stage AIDS care. At the time of its closure, it was the only AIDS hospice and 24-hour residential HIV/AIDS nursing care facility in Los Angeles and more than 3,000 people lived—and died—there.
“Archbishop Carl Bean was my brother in the struggle for the last 35 years. We marched through the fire together during the height of the pain and the dying. Regardless of the pressures that could have divided us, we were always there for each other,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF. “An irreplaceable part of our history is retired with his death. However, a small piece of his legacy of service lives on at the Carl Bean House, which started as a hospice and still serves today as sacred ground and a place of healing. Rest in the peace you richly earned dear friend and comrade.”
Today, a state-of-the-art AHF Healthcare Center is located on the premises on Adams Boulevard just west of Western Avenue. In addition, the Carl Bean campus is also home to In The Meantime Men’s Group, an organization that “… has been on the forefront of creating an environment that supports, empowers and educates black, gay, same gender-loving and bi-sexual men in Los Angeles County.”
According to the Los Angeles Sentinel, “Archbishop Carl Bean started the Minority AIDS Project (MAP) in Los Angeles. MAP was the first community HIV/AIDS organization that focused on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS transmission in the black community during a time when the disease was considered to be relatively new.”
About AHF
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.6 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare
