At-home options. Enhancing care for AIDS patients.

Mark is a 45-year-old man with advanced AIDS. His care partner, Gary, has a full-time job in the design industry. A home care aide visits Mark five days a week for 10 hours at a time to provide personal care while Gary is at work. A visiting nurse sees Mark weekly and has taught Gary how to prepare Mark's ganciclovir infusion. Every six weeks Mark meets with a nutritionist, who evaluates his dietary status and advises Gary on purchasing high-calorie foods for Mark. In May Gary must attend a conference out of town and he is worried:who will care for Mark for those three days? Gary calls the At Home Options (AHOP) nurse and explains the situation. She arranges for nighttime nursing coverage for those three days, and ensures that Mark's home care aide can stay for the weekend. Gary is able to attend his conference and concentrate on his work, secure in the knowledge that Mark will be well cared for and that scheduled respite care, although not a benefit with traditional insurance, is covered through the AHOP program.