DALLAS COUNTY HEALTH DEPT DISMISSES INVESTIGATION RUMORS

By JOSHUA C. JOHNSON
Dallas Post Tribune

DALLAS-Reports of federal investigations at Dallas County Health and Human Services have been called a number of things, ‘racist’ or ‘just desserts’ now officials from the Resources and Services Administration are simply calling the incident a unfortunate ‘miscommunication.’

The investigation supposedly stemmed from the result misuse of Ryan White/AIDS funding. Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13. He and his mother Jeanne White Ginder fought for his right to attend school, gaining international attention as a voice of reason about HIV/AIDS.

According to the Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Health Department, first erroneous misinformation came from a story on the local NBC 5 affiliate.

NBC 5 investigators contend that they were the victims of initial miscommunications from the Health Resources and Services Administration who they say first informed them of the alleged federal investigation.

“My office gave true and accurate responses to media outlets, but they instead reported misinformation. HRSA [Health Resources and Services Administration] confirmed once again there is not an investigation,” said Thompson.

NBC 5 management issued a one line acknowledgement of the error online.

“NBC 5 regrets that in this one instance we were provided inaccurate information.”

But the damage was done. Reporters even went as far as to give voice to dissenters related to the Ryan White operations in Dallas County.

Ben Martinez, the vice-chair of Dallas County’s Ryan White Planning Committee, a citizen panel that’s supposed to help decide how the money is spent under federal law, said on the record that he does not have a clear picture of how the Ryan White funds were spent.

At the age of 18, Ryan White died on April 8, 1990, just months before Congress passed the AIDS bill that bears his name – the Ryan
White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) Act. The legislation has been reauthorized four times since – in 1996, 2000, 2006, and 2009 – and is now called the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

“They would rather see the council as a rubber stamp instead of people who are actually deciding millions of dollars going from one service to another,” Martinez said.

Thompson calls the incident a prime example of ‘racism’. “The public counts on us to do our jobs with integrity, diligence and transparency, and they have a right to know the truth,” said Thompson. “The public should know that whenever I become aware of allegations within this department, they are taken seriously and handled swiftly.”

HRSA Communications officials acknowledged the error; and went on to clarify that their recent visit to North Texas was not an official investigation. Instead that it was a routine visit that occurs every five years.

Martin Kramer, HRSA’s communication director, said there was never an investigation of the county health department. The
agency “regrets that this error was made,” he said. He did not elaborate on what caused the error.