Thousands of Gulf Coast residents are living in shelters all across the country — many preparing to start new lives wherever they land. That’s easier for some more than others.

For AIDS patients, evacuation and relocation is about more than just finding food and housing, it’s also about having access to medication they can’t live without.

Here in Alabama AIDS agencies are trying to figure out just how they’ll accommodate so many new HIV/AIDS patients needing help while still providing services to Alabamians who rely on them.

AIDS Alabama Executive Director Kathie Hiers says her agency has taken a number of calls over the last few days from individuals with HIV/AIDS relocated from the Gulf . She says her staff is already stretched thin working on Alabama cases, but they’re going to do all they can to help the evacuees.

A few of the things they’re doing include administering AIDS tests for those who need documentation of their illness, moving as many evacuees as they can into AIDS housing and helping them get their medications.