Posted October 1, 2025
DOORWAYS | 1101 N. Jefferson Avenue | St. Louis MO 63106
Agency Leadership Attend U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) in Washington, D.C.
Employees take part in critical conversations and trainings to deepen their knowledge, learn of current best practices, and bring back new ideas to strengthen their service to DOORWAYS program participants.
St. Louis, MO – From September 4-7, 2025, DOORWAYS staff traveled to Washington, D.C., for the annual U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA). Along with President and CEO, Opal M. Jones, managers from our Residential, Emergency Solutions, and Own Home programs joined thousands of colleagues from across the country to take part in critical conversations and trainings. Conferences like USCHA provide our team with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge, connect with peers, and bring back new ideas and best practices to strengthen our work here in St. Louis.
DOORWAYS, like many local AIDS Service Organizations (ASO), has been serving the community since the late 1980s. In those early years, the urgent need for hospice care was overwhelming, as effective treatments were not yet available. Today, thanks to medical advances, people living with HIV are living longer, healthier lives, something that was not possible when our organization began. Our role has shifted toward long-term care and support, particularly for an aging population. While we celebrate the hope and independence that extended lifespans bring, we also recognize that many of the people we serve face the added challenge of generational poverty, which makes moving forward even more difficult.
The theme of the 2025 U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS, Aging with HIV, shines a powerful light on this reality. Across plenaries, workshops, and institutes, the conference program creates space to honor people aging with HIV, to learn from their lived experiences, and to explore solutions to the challenges they face.
This year’s programming specifically acknowledged the unique perspectives of different generations: the pre-protease inhibitor era, the post-protease inhibitor survivors, and the “dandelions” who continue to thrive in the face of stigma and struggle. These stories remind us of the resilience within the HIV community and the importance of honoring those who came before us.
As treatments extend lives, new health challenges emerge when a person ages, compounding the impact of HIV. Of the nearly 1.1 million people living with diagnosed HIV in the United States in 2022, approximately 54%—more than half a million people—were aged 50 and older. This reality underscores the importance of continued innovation, compassion, and care as we walk alongside individuals aging with HIV.
ABOUT DOORWAYS
Founded in 1988, DOORWAYS provides housing and 360 degrees of wrap-around services to people at the intersection of poverty, homelessness, and illness from HIV. Each year, we serve approximately 3,000 clients and family members in 124 counties spread across Missouri and Illinois. Expanding over the years to meet growing depth and breadth of need, DOORWAYS evolved from a hospice caring for the dying to an agency building lives for the living. We currently own 11 buildings with 219 apartments offering five housing platforms—emergency housing, flexible housing, assistive housing for those too ill to live independently, permanent housing, and, to prevent homelessness for people in their own accommodations, rent/utility subsidies.
Housing is supplemented by empowerment services to build the social determinants of health (housing, health, food security, employment/income, education, community, etc.) that are needed to advance towards a life of opportunity and independence. We use individualized case management, resource referrals, self-development programming, employment support, behavioral health counseling, and psychiatric care. To remove barriers to essential resources, we have arranged to have a BOCA Pharmacy and a Key Clinic on campus. Both are open to anyone in the community who wishes to use these services. Pairing a clinic next to a pharmacy strengthens the circle of care.
Through this mix of services to stabilize housing, health, and hope, clients begin their journey toward a more self-directed life. Once housed and linked with their care coordinator, clients are encouraged to comply with an HIV-medication regimen that can help them attain undetectable status. When HIV is undetectable, life span and quality of life improve for the individual. Additionally, undetectable means untransmittable (U=U), stopping new cases–opening the door to ending HIV in future generations.
For more information, please review this website or contact the agency at info@doorwayshousing.org
