Nearly 50 people gathered Nov. 30 for a rally in downtown Ft. Lauderdale in support of the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP). Recent state and federal budget shortfalls have forced states like Florida to place hundreds of AIDS patients on a waiting list. The ADAP rally was organized by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF).

“We’re here to demand funding for the AIDS drug assistance Program and we’re specifically addressing it to Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius,” said Robert Butler, a physician’s assistant at AHF’s Northpoint Medical Center at Imperial Point Hospital. “We have had similar demonstrations in the past to try to increase funding, because there is a waiting list for drug assistance programs throughout the entire United States.”