"The City of Victoria encourages VanCity members to throw their support behind the ACCESS Health Centre Project," said Mayor Alan Lowe.  "Both AIDS Vancouver Island and Cool Aid Society contribute tremendously to the community; joining together to form the ACCESS Health Centre will enable them to be even more effective in  providing critical services to those in greatest need." MAYOR ALAN LOWE

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On behalf of Council, I am writing this letter in support of the newly-formed ACCESS Health Centre's application for the Vancity Credit Union Award.

Victoria Cool Aid Society (VCAS) and AIDS Vancouver Island (AVI) partnered to purchase 713 Johnson Street to form ACCESS Health Centre. Their vision for developing this new facility to improve the delivery of their complementary health and education services is commendable.

Both VCAS and AVI are long-standing and greatly respected agencies in Victoria providing integral services to disadvantaged citizens of the Capital Region. We believe this collaborative response of providing complementary services for complex and marginalized populations will benefit both the clients and the community. This innovative partnership will increase access and efficiency and thereby positively, impact and stabilize the lives of the clients they jointly serve.

At last week's Committee of the whole meeting, Council unanimously supported this visionary and innovative project and the application to VanCity Savings Credit Union for the $1 million grant..

Sincerely,

Alan Lowe
MAYOR
City of Victoria

The Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) is pleased to provide this letter confirming our ongoing support of the ACCESS Community Health Services Centre Project.

CATIE is a national, not-for-profit charity committed to improving the health and quality of life of all people living with HIV/AIDS in Canada. We work in partnership with a network of other information providers to ensure that people have access to the information they need, in a form they desire, to make informed health care choices.

CATIE's l -800 line provides treatment information to callers from across the country. When we receive a call from British Columbia, in addition to assisting the caller with their question regarding treatment information, we refer them to local services, including to that of AIDS Vancouver Island.

Providing access to comprehensive health services such as the ACCESS Community Health Services Centre Project is critical, both to provide information that can prevent the further spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and to offer support and health information to tho:.e living with HIV/AIDS and their families.

We encourage you to provide funding to ACCESS Community Health Services Centre Project for this very important service.

Yours sincerely,

Laurie Edmiston
Executive Director
CATIE