History

The San Antonio AIDS Foundation was founded by Papa Bear, aka Robert Edwards, a local bar owner, who responded to the medical and social crisis at a time when most were afraid. Founded in 1986, as an all volunteer-staffed hospice in the back of a bar, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation is the oldest HIV/AIDS community-based organization in Bexar County. The San Antonio AIDS Foundation or as it is more familiarly known, SAAF, has evolved from a seven-client organization to a multi-service agency reaching thousands of individuals every year through healthcare, support services and prevention education outreach.

SAAF is the only licensed HIV/AIDS special care facility for all of south Texas. Virtually all of SAAF’s clients make less than 200% of the 2009 federal poverty guidelines, with average monthly income of $674. Because SAAF never turns away clients, we are often the only provider willing to care for undocumented immigrants for whom health care facilities are either unable or unwilling to provide uncompensated care. SAAF’s daily cost of $135 for skilled nursing care versus the customary hospital charge of close to $1,000 a day annually saves the Bexar County tax payers millions of dollars for both Medicaid/Medicare beneficiaries, and the uninsured.