The Douglas County AIDS Project started out of desperation. People in Lawrence with HIV and AIDS had to leave town to get help. Even then, the disease was largely a death sentence. And little was known about it, with many people across the country thinking it only affected gay men.

Twenty-five years later, the disease is much more widely (and accurately) understood. And thanks to medical advances, HIV is now considered a chronic, rather than acutely fatal, condition.

As a result, the Douglas County AIDS Project is no longer needed as it once was. The organization announced Monday that it would close its doors July 31 and transition its services to other local nonprofits before then.

On July 1, Heartland Community Health Center will begin providing case management services to the 130 HIV/AIDS patients in Douglas, Franklin and Jefferson counties, while the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department will start offering HIV testing to at-risk communities in the area. The Douglas County AIDS Project, which has three staff members, is primarily funded by two grants from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which, beginning the first of next month, will transfer to Heartland and the health department.

Trenton Garber, executive director of the Douglas County AIDS Project, said the nonprofit’s move follows a national trend toward case management being offered in health care settings.

He also cited a study from last winter that found that a 20-year-old with HIV who maintains regular health appointments and the proper medication regimen can live just as long as a healthy 20-year-old.

“So it’s an entirely different world than it was in the late ’80s,” he said. “Back then, there wasn’t a dedicated response from the local or state governments. People were basically left to fend for themselves.”

But he noted that HIV is still a public health concern, as it is a communicable disease that is difficult to manage and that 1 in 5 people with the virus remain undiagnosed.

The Douglas County AIDS Project, the second in the state after a similar nonprofit in Topeka, started in July 1989 as a volunteer organization that focused on end-of-life issues, because the disease had no proven therapy to prolong life.

Marcia Epstein, a Lawrence social worker who helped found the organization with people like local teacher Tom Christie and health department nurse Ann Ailor, recalled that in the ’80s people who suspected they had HIV often didn’t even get tested because it would have just been another source of stress in their lives. At the time of the nonprofit’s founding, an estimated 10 people in Douglas County had HIV.

“It’s a very different time now than it was in the mid ’80s and late ’80s in Lawrence,” she said. “I’m really proud of that agency. It was a hard issue because homophobia was much more openly rampant in those times than it is now.” She said she just hopes the mission of the Douglas County AIDS Project isn’t forgotten as its services are absorbed by the other local nonprofits.

Dan Partridge, director of the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, recalls what a big deal it was in 1991 when basketball legend Magic Johnson announced he was HIV-positive, compared to now, when many people probably don’t even know the former star has the virus. He added that his department and Heartland are good fits to take over HIV/AIDS services in Douglas County.

“HIV testing and education fits with the health department’s message of prevention and public health. Case management and connecting people to health care are what primary care providers and Heartland do,” Partridge said. “I think it draws on the strength of both organizations.”