BLAIR UNDERWOOD CLINIC OPENS IN DC: Actor behind new free HIV/AIDS treatment center in DC.

     *Actor and AIDS activist Blair Underwood was in Washington DC on Thursday to help the AIDS Healthcare Foundation open a new health clinic in his name.

     The city's 3 percent infection rate is the nation's worst, according to a study this year by its HIV/AIDS Administration. And the foundation, which calls itself the country's largest nonprofit HIV/AIDS health-care provider, came to the District because of its status as the "epicenter" of the disease, according to its director, Michael Weinstein.

     Underwood said he lent star power to the clinic to draw clients. "I need to talk to those men who are out there dating women who think this doesn't concern them," the actor told the Washington Post. "It does."

     The AHF Blair Underwood Healthcare Center is a 15-room clinic in Suite 606 at 2141 K St. with four examination beds and a single doctor, Roxanne Cox-Iyamu.

     "We're hoping to get a maximum of 300 to 500 people," said Cox-Iyamu, the clinic's medical director. "We have the ability to bring more people onboard."

     In addition, five Magic Johnson exam vans will roam the city to test 40 to 50 people a day.

     Weinstein said Underwood's participation is a key to the clinic's success: "There are not that many people of his stature who are willing to put their face out there and their name out there for this issue."

     Thursday's ceremony was attended by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and officials from the Obama administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the March of Dimes, reports the Washington Post.

     Meanwhile, the foundation is criticizing District health officials for not sending a representative to the opening. Weinstein said the city's top health officials "told us we were not needed. We have enough health-care providers. They would not allow us to participate in its ADAP program," the federal AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which provides free medication to patients.

     "The city has begun to do a remarkable job in combating the disease after years of stagnation, but the "system of care is faltering in some respects," he said. The District needs to welcome any help it can get, Weinstein said, noting that its infection rate is higher than that of Lagos, Nigeria.

     Michael Kharfen, a spokesman for the District's HIV/AIDS Administration, rebutted Weinstein's account, saying the city welcomed the foundation to its network of medical-care providers. He said he could not comment further.

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