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On the Line

7 Nov 2013

ON THE LINE EXCLUSIVE: Alfred Hospital to close Fairfield House – 1 December 2013 World AIDS Day

News & Politics, Society & Culture

EXCLUSIVE:220px-The_Alfred_Hospital_Melbourne_1

Late last night, On The Line was contacted by a patient who is currently in care at the Alfred Hospital’s Fairfield House.

In his interview that aired today Brendan reveals that he and his family had been informed of the closure of Fairfield House and that patients would be transferred to Ward 7 West and the Caulfield rehab hospital.

In what can only be described as cruel irony, the closing date is December 1, 2013 – World AIDS Day.

It appears that the 15 bed facility will be replaced by a 4 bed cubicle in 7 west?

Fairfield House has a long history in the LGBTI community, its very existence coming from the Government response to community outrage and protests following the closure of the Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital in the late 1990’s.

The closure of Fairfield House will bring up memories of street marches, pickets, protests and at times violent outrage.  A battle with government for recognition of the devastation HIV/AIDS had, and continues to have, on our community.

On The Line made many attempts to get a spokesperson from the Alfred prior to going to air and had been promised a call from the head of HIV at the hospital, Professor Sharon Lewin.  We will keep you posted as more news comes to hand.

(Prof Sharon Lewin’s response aired on Saturday Magazine on 09 November 2013)

During the program the President of the VAC/GMHC Michael Williams phoned in to express his concerns regarding the closure of Fairfield House and the Community’s close and emotional connection to the facility.

In other news today, Dan Savage was in town last week and JOY’s Jacob Holman caught up with him.  We get to hear some highlights of Jacob’s interview ahead of its full airing this Sunday on Word For Word at 1pm.

And Guest Editor of the Star Observer Newspaper, Miles Herffernan joins us with tomorrow’s news today.

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