Baton Rouge home for HIV/AIDS patients to soon close their doors; residents frustrated

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A longtime home for HIV/AIDS patients in Baton Rouge will soon close its doors.

Our Lady of the Lake Health announced they will close St. Anthony’s Home, an assisted living resident for people who need support due to being disabled from HIV/AIDS.

Patricia Lendo has lived at St. Anthony’s the past 12 years and was told she will have to move out by June 30.

“Sad. My heart just dropped,” Lendo said.

Lendo and most of her neighbors are living on a fixed income because of their disability, and many are worried they will not find a new place to live in enough time before the summer is over.

“I might be on the street pushing a basket like the homeless people are doing,” Lendo said.

“The caregivers are nice. All of them… they work hard, and are good people, but they want to close the dog gone place down and I don’t have anywhere to live,” Glenn Corley, a resident said.

A spokesperson for Our Lady of the Lake issued a statement to WAFB about the closing of St. Anthony’s Home:

“After many years of thoughtful discernment and declining community need, Our Lady of the Lake Health has decided to close St. Anthony’s Home. St. Anthony’s Home opened its doors over 25 years ago to care for HIV+ patients at a time when such a diagnosis was often fatal or debilitating. Thanks to advances in medicine, care management and early interventions, the need for a facility like St. Anthony’s has waned drastically. We remain deeply committed to caring for our patients with HIV+ diagnoses through our Early Intervention Clinic and outpatient facilities.”

The spokesperson assured that they are not putting people out on the street, and they are actively helping residents find new places to live.

However, Lendo is still worried that she could be homeless before all of this over.

“Nobody wants that,” Lendo said.

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