Still making a difference

Guiding the way for hundreds diagnosed with HIV and AIDS over the past 19 years, Shanti of Orange County may have moved to Laguna Hills, but the organization’s heart still belongs in Laguna Beach.

“There’s a myriad of mazes you’re forced to work your way through when you’re diagnosed with HIV or AIDS,” said a Laguna Beach client of the agency who wishes to remain anonymous.

“Shanti not only helps you find the right doctors and insurance, but they help you with it mentally.”

Shanti, which means inner peace in Sanskrit, is a nonprofit organization that first opened its doors in Laguna Beach in 1987.

The organization is still intimately involved in the city’s response to the disease. Shanti is represented on the Laguna Beach HIV Advisory Committee, works in conjunction with the Laguna Beach Community Clinic and provides services for those living at the HIV and AIDS Hagan Place apartments.

“We feel very close to Laguna Beach,” executive director for Sarah Kasman said.

“At first we just prepared people for death. Now we’re more about teaching people to manage and live with AIDS,” Kasman said.

Dr. Korey Jorgensen of the Laguna Beach Community Clinic, and a Shanti case worker, visit patients weekly.

The organization also provides clients with home-delivered meals, transportation, physical therapy, educational events, and it delivers condoms to the Boom Boom Room, Bounce, Woody’s and the Marine Room.

A nine-year volunteer with Shanti, Susanna Hugelshofer delivers lunch every Tuesday to four clients living in Hagan Place.

Hagan Place is a partner agency of Shanti’s, and provides a residence for 27 low-income people deemed disabled due to HIV or AIDS, Hugelshofer said.

Other services provided by Shanti include massage and yoga therapy and movie nights.

One of the organization’s biggest challenges is to get people to be tested and into the program, according to Kasman.

Shanti receives 49% of its funding from the Ryan White Act, and the rest comes from individual donations and fundraising events.

Kasman is looking for a facility that could donate space in Laguna for group therapy meetings for about 12 people.

For more information, call (949) 452-0888.

cpt.19-shanti-CPhotoInfoRT1R2HNM20060519izfgdtncDON LEACH / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Susana Hugelshofer delivers food to the Hagan Place apartments, a home for those living with HIV and AIDS.