A cool October breeze swept through the grounds of the Veterans Home of California at Yountville Saturday morning as dozens gathered for Napa Valley’s 16th Annual Aids Walk.

From 1981 to December of 2005, 215 cases of AIDS were reported in Napa County, and 135 people died of the disease, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Saturday’s AIDS Walk was designed to foster awareness about the disease and raise money for Queen of the Valley Medical Center’s CARE Network, which assists local AIDS patients and those who are HIV positive.

For the past 15 years, the event has taken place at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Downtown Napa. This year, with the park being redesigned and under construction, organizers moved the walk to the Vets Home.

Most of the participants Saturday either knew of someone who is currently living with HIV or someone who had succumbed to AIDS.

“A friend of mine that I worked with at cosmetology school (died of AIDS),” said Maggi Breshears, a member of Napa Valley College’s team of walkers.  Breshears also confronted the disease when she was studying for her nursing degree. As part of her college courses, Breshears took care of HIV patients.

Napa resident Sally Burnham also knows a bit about AIDS. Burnham said she was a nurse at Napa State Hospital who treated Napa’s first AIDS patients when the epidemic began.

“We had no idea (about AIDS),” she said. “We didn’t know whether to isolate them or not.”

On Saturday morning, Burnham and fellow parishioners at Covenant Presbyterian Church formed a group of about 15 strong that raised $2,000 or more for the cause. Burnham said that although today’s AIDS patients and people who are HIV-positive live longer lives, the disease is still very much a threat.

Deb Stallings, event coordinator and board member of the group that sponsored the event, the Napa Valley Unity League, said there is “not enough pressure from the public to make funding available for AIDS. The funding is dwindling and the need is not. ... This struggle is still real and we’re still at war with this disease.”

Stallings said Saturday morning that the league hoped to raise $5,000 or more for the CARE Network. Mission accomplished: Eighty-two walkers raised $6,456.

The Care Network, an arm of Queen of the Valley Medical Center, provides chronic disease case management for AIDS patients and others, said Dana Codron, director of the organization. Codron said her organization assists about 80 HIV-positive clients each month. CARE — which stands for Case Management Advocacy Resources and Referrals and Education — has a staff of nurses and social workers who regularly visit the homes of local AIDS patients.

Codron said the network serves mostly low-income and underinsured patients and sends its staff to clients’ homes to assess their medical and financial needs. The network also provides transportation to medical appointments for clients and links them with outside resources such as the Food Bank and Medi-Cal.

The network does not charge clients for services. “It’s work that we’re very passionate about. We will do whatever our clients need to help them manage their disease,” Codron said.

Dr. Kenyon Rupnik, a Napa infectious disease specialist who works in private practice and at the Queen, said he sees between 30 and 40 AIDS patients each year. Rupnik said although back in the ‘80s a positive HIV test was often viewed as a death sentence, the situation is now dramatically different. Today, he said, AIDS patients typically take far fewer medications and treatment follow-up is less complicated.

“The situation is completely different now and the thrust of AIDS at moment is to encourage everyone to be tested, because it’s such a treatable disease at this point,” he said.

In Napa, HIV testing is available through the CARE Network, Napa County Health and Human Services, Planned Parenthood and Clinic Ole.

Dr. Robert Moore, medical director at Clinic Ole, said his organization works in partnership with the CARE Network. A San Francisco-based AIDS specialist, Dr. Daniel Conlin, visits the clinic once or twice a month, he said.

Moore said Clinic Ole also runs AIDS prevention programs for local youth and agricultural workers, using intervention techniques to partner with vineyard management companies and farmworker housing facilities.  Clinic Ole also offers HIV tests.

For a full rundown of HIV tests available locally, view the Register’s Oct. 18 “Glad You Asked” column at napavalleyegister.com.