After a string of delays because of bad weather, funding glitches and federal government shutdowns, construction has begun on the county’s first residential AIDS facility.
“We’re elated to see the bulldozers,” said Sister Alice Drewek, AIDS ministry coordinator for the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters, who is building the facility on the grounds of Wheaton Franciscan Services Inc. at 26 W 171 Roosevelt Rd.
The 20-unit housing complex, christened Canticle Place after a poem by St. Francis of Assisi, will house 20 to 24 area residents who have been physically and financially devastated by AIDS.
Financed primarily by an $850,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and a $335,000 DuPage County block grant, the $1.2 million facility will be operated by the Sisters.
The Sisters will provide such services as access to wellness programs and pastoral counseling. The DuPage County Health Department will provide case management services, including home-delivered meals and health care.
If the weather cooperates and construction proceeds on schedule, Canticle Place will be completed about the end of October, Drewek said. The Sisters will begin accepting applications from potential residents within the next few months.
According to DuPage County Health Department statistics, more than 300 people in DuPage have been diagnosed with AIDS since 1982. County officials believe, however, that the number of HIV-infected people could be as high as 1,600.
Because of the lack of subsidized AIDS housing in the county, many people with AIDS have relocated to facilities in Chicago or elsewhere in Cook County, leaving behind family and friends.
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Plans originally had called for construction of the housing complex to begin last fall.