The Hope Center and Compass Pharmacy celebrate opening of new location

The 3920 Arkwright Road location will feature dental services once fully staffed. Officials believe it will also provide anonymity to those seeking treatment being in a less populated business center.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Hope Center in Macon celebrated their new 3920 Arkwright Road location on Thursday with a ribbon cutting.

The Ryan White-funded HIV/AIDS clinic helps Middle Georgians battling the disease by offering medical services, assisting patients with housing and transportation, clothing and more.

Holly Ireland, Interim Director of the Hope Center, says these services will continue at the new location, along with a new addition that will help patients address a major toll that HIV/AIDS takes on the body.

“We have a fully functional dental clinic,” Ireland said. “And so, we are working to get staffing for our dental clinic so that we can start to provide dental services.” 

Officials believe the new Arkwright Road office will provide anonymity to those seeking care since it’s in a less populated business center than the previous Emery Highway location. They hope this will help the center be able to offer life-saving treatment to more patients.

“People might drop out of care because they may see someone they know,” said Dr. Harold Katner, who helped found the Hope Center in 1989. “They don’t want to walk into a clinic that people know is an AIDS clinic.” 

Dr. Katner was the clinic’s first provider. Katner says it’s a dream come true to see the Hope Center be able to care for patients using medication physicians hoped and prayed for in the 1980s. Katner says he’s excited to know that these services will not only continue but also expand in the clinic’s new location.

“Our oldest patients are in their 80s, which we never dreamed of in the past,” Katner said. “I always tell patients they’re going to die of old age, not of old AIDS.”

Today, the Hope Center treats nearly 1,400 patients. 89% of them have reached viral suppression status, meaning the amount of virus in the body has been reduced to undetectable levels. Ireland says the new office will continue to help the clinic aid Middle Georgians.

“Being able to grow and expand with our patient population is really going to be for the benefit of their health and wellness,” Ireland said.