Latino Health Institute Receives $25,000 From Bell Atlantic for Pediatric AIDS Care

Latino Health Institute Receives $25,000
From Bell Atlantic for Pediatric AIDS Care

May 21, 1998

BOSTON -- The Latino Health Institute is one of three beneficiaries to
receive a $25,000 donation from Bell Atlantic in support of pediatric AIDS
care.

The money is from the sale of merchandise featuring characters from
Maurice Sendak's renowned children's book, "Where The Wild Things
Are," to Bell Atlantic employees this year.

The Latino Health Institute has been offering an array of services to the
Boston area's Latino community since 1987. Two other health care
services providers -- St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia,
and Whitman-Walker Clinic, Washington, D.C. -- also received $25,000
donations today in a three-way video link using Bell Atlantic's high-speed
phone lines.

The announcement coincided with an appearance by Bell Atlantic
spokesperson and acclaimed actor James Earl Jones at St. Christopher's,
where he read to youngsters from Sendak's children's classic.

In Boston, Bob Mudge, vice president for Bell Atlantic-Massachusetts,
presented a check to Dr. Nicolas Carballeira, director of the Latino Health
Institute, to support a pediatric HIV treatment decision-making study.

Mudge said, "This is important because of the array of problems for
children with HIV and their families who are also challenged by language
and cultural issues that sometimes come between health care providers and
the patient -- or in the case of pediatric AIDS, the health care provider and
the parent or guardian of the child."

Dr. Carballeira noted that the study would address such issues as parental
reluctance to seek help due to perceptions of discrimination associated with
HIV, the degree to which they understand the treatment regimen given to
them and whether they feel empowered to elicit more information from the
child's health care provider.

Expressing gratitude to Bell Atlantic for its financial support, Dr.
Carballeira said, "Families living with pediatric HIV face many struggles.
Making choices about the best care and treatment for their children, and
the daily, life-long task of carrying out those choices, are challenges they
must meet in the midst of others nearly as difficult. We at Latino Health
Institute very much appreciate this support from Bell Atlantic and the
efforts of the Bell Atlantic employees who raised the funds. It fills in an
important piece in our overall research program, and it will really make a
difference."

Bell Atlantic -- formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX --
is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry.
With more than 41 million telephone access lines and 6.7 million wireless
customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of
advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless
services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell
Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-
growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in
22 countries.