Until March of 2003, the clinic was under the umbrella of Roseland Community Hospital. Today, Luck Care Center is under the not-for-profit umbrella of the Southside Health Association, of which Dr. Johnson serves as President.
The passion that Dr. Johnson and Bethsheba Johnson have for their patients and the community is immediately apparent.  The clinic provides a place for individuals to come for HIV specialty care in their neighborhood. With so many institutionalized barriers to care, “this is a change for the better,” states Bethsheba.
Prior to the opening of the clinic, patients had to travel to other parts of the city and faced several unnecessary barriers to care, including the “South Side vs. West Side” division, inadequate transportation, and childcare problems. Or in other instances, patients received care via the public health clinics, which in Chicago fortunately are staffed by competent HIV physicians, however patients had to contend with the additional stigma of going to a public health clinic for care.
In the mid-1990s, Bethsheba remembers that so many of her patients would come into the hospital at “death’s door” with PCP or other AIDS-related opportunistic infections (OI). She is grateful that several of these same individuals are “working and productive” again. But still she is “surprised that so many people today still don’t know about treatment and come into care presenting an OI.”
Today the client base at Luck Care Center is approaching 200. While the majority of the patients are African American men who have sex with men, Bethsheba states they are seeing  more African American women—younger, married and with children—who are being infected with HIV via unprotected heterosexual sex.
A history of mental health, substance abuse and illiteracy often compound treating the clients Dr. Johnson serves at Luck Care Center. Because of these multiple issues, Dr. Johnson believes clients have a more difficult time accessing care, understanding HIV disease, and adhering to antivirals. “Developing a treatment plan that encompasses the current and past life experience of the patient is even more important” in this regard states Dr. Johnson.
Providing a caring, professional staff dedicated to excellence in the community and engaging the client as a partner in the management of HIV disease makes it more likely that the client will keep appointments, improve adherence and reduce and eliminate high-risk behaviors.
Clinical Trials
Prior to joining Dr. Luck, Bethsheba worked for seven years at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital as a pulmonary clinical nurse, working primarily with clinical trials. “There has always been a disparity in gender and people of color in clinical  trials,” she states. Dr. Johnson adds, “in the clinic I’ve observed the differences in how HIV disease progresses in people of color and women, as well as how these groups process antivirals and cope with their side effects.” Both agree that there is a need to recruit more people of color and women into clinical trials in order to gain a better perspective on disease management.
In this regard, both Dr. Johnson and Bethsheba Johnson have been working closely with Dr. Kimberly Smith, of Rush University Medical Centers and a lead researcher of the ACTG (AIDS Clinical Trials Group), to expand access and participation in clinical trials. The ultimate goal is to have Luck Care Center become a satellite office for the ACTG in Chicago. Dr. Johnson states that, “the education of the clients is key to success in recruitment.” Bethsheba and Dr. Smith have spent a great deal of time speaking with clients and service providers across the South Side of the city to increase awareness and encourage participation.
Several of their patients have clinical trial experience and were more than willing to share their knowledge.
Howard Spiller
Howard Spiller is a 39 year-old African American man who was diagnosed with HIV in 1986.
In 1996, he suffered a devastating stroke that has partially affected his mobility, but not his willpower. A few years ago following extensive rehabilitation and initiating HAART, Spiller entered a Procrit trial studying the impact of anemia on HIV-positive individuals.
The best part of the study, as Spiller remembers, was the level of care. “Every month I was having my labs done,” he recounts. “Having this information explained on a regular basis really informed me about my HIV and taught me to advocate for myself.”
The experience inspired Spiller to become involved with the Ryan White Care Council and the HIV Prevention Planning Group in Chicago. However before entering any clinical trial, Spiller suggests that “individuals interview physicians involved with trials, ask clarifying questions, find out the benefits and risks for your health and whether the results of the trial benefit others, especially African Americans living with HIV.”
One Women’s Story
Another patient of Dr. Johnson is a young African American mother of three small children, who asked that her name be withheld from the story. Myrna [not her actual name] was diagnosed with HIV nearly four years ago and lost her husband to AIDS in 2001. She has spent the last few years caring for her children, who are HIV negative, and learning as much as she can about this disease that causes AIDS. “I’m infected, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to die.”
She enrolled in a clinical trial combining Viracept and Combivir several years ago because as she states, “I wanted the best chance to survive and see my children grow up. So many people I encounter are not informed on how to live with this virus. We need to change how we live in order to survive.”
Myrna admits that she was a nervous wreck when she first entered care and the clinical trial. However, her hesitation has all subsided, replaced by a strong desire to share her experience and help others living with HIV. She volunteers in the clinic as a peer advocate. “God has restored my health,” she proclaims. “I feel as if I have a calling to help other women, like myself, who have struggled.” She credits much of her treatment success to the care she has received from her providers at Luck Care Center.
Challenges Ahead
While the expansion of clinical trials is paramount to the long term survivability of women and people of color living with HIV, the amount of administrative follow-up and paperwork is a huge barrier to recruitment and participation in trials for smaller clinics such as Luck Care Center.
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commitment to HIV/AIDS was a response to the dire need in the African American community. Prior to the establishment of the clinic, a comprehensive program to address the needs of people infected with and impacted by HIV did not exist on the far South Side of Chicago.
consuming and the hours long, Bethsheba energetically proclaims, “I can’t think of doing anything else.”
advocate. He is currently a member of the HIV Prevention Planning Group, a community-planning group working in collaboration with the HIV/AIDS/STD Division of the Chicago Department of Public Health to stem the rising tide of HIV and STD infections in the Chicago area.