Life-saving HIV clinic unexpectedly closes its doors with little explanation

Last Thursday, a long-running HIV clinic, Rainbow Health in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Twin Cities area of Minnesota, abruptly closed its doors, laying off 85 employees and ending thousands of people’s access to LGBTQ+ focused HIV care.

The union representing the employees, Service Employees International Union, said in a statement, “We are shocked, saddened and angered by this news, both as staff dedicated to Rainbow Health’s mission and even more so for our clients and community. We are left with many huge questions: How could this massive decision come with no warning? What happened to the funding that the organization has been receiving? What was happening with leadership and the Board that got us to this point?” 

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The closure was announced suddenly, with employees being given only four hours’ notice before their jobs ended and the clinic shut its doors for good.

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“I have clients, former clients, that are still calling on the official from which I’m bound to return anytime this week. I don’t have answers,” Uzoamaka McLaughlin, a former medical case manager with Rainbow Health, said in a press conference. “I can’t send them anywhere because I don’t know where to send them. We are here demanding that they pay us because the union is [fighting] on our behalf. We are here demanding that they do justice…. It’s unacceptable. We have not done anything wrong. We were just doing our job.”

In an announcement on Facebook, Rainbow Health said, “With a heavy heart, we announce the closure of Rainbow Health. Due to insurmountable financial challenges, we can no longer sustain our operations. We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for understanding during this challenging time. Your health and well-being remain our top priority.”

Staff was reportedly given no notice of this closure beforehand, being told in a last-minute meeting. This came just a few days after after the clinic’s Chief Financial Officer quit and the union voted to remove the CEO of the company, who had been receiving a rate of pay in the millions along with multiple bonuses.

“I learned a few minutes before one o’clock that I had until 5 p.m. to terminate services with my almost 40 clients, cancel all my sessions for the rest of the day. I was booked until 7 o’clock. I had a client in the waiting room while staff was just in the hallway sobbing,” said Lee Start, a psychotherapist formerly with Rainbow Health, in a press conference.

“We had a new therapist that was supposed to start today,” Start continued. “We have new staff from two weeks ago, from three months ago. This was all very, very sudden and shocking. As of a week ago, two weeks ago, there was a huge push for us to start to see more clients. I know there were a lot of new clients on the books. I know a new client started on Thursday. There were new clients scheduled for this week, for both the clinic and our PrEP pharmacy.”

McLaughlin also alleged that there was a culture of racist abuse at the company, with the union being created in 2022 following concerns about racial discrimination against Black and Indigenous employees. Cited in support of this was an open letter by employees from that time period.

“We’ve had issues of multiple lawsuits concerning the agency from individuals,” McLaughlin said. “So the truth is, there have been different levels of abuse. And the Board was not stepping up to address that because the Board equally was seeing the level of lawsuits against the agency. And yet, and yet they did not do anything…. They did not do anything to support or help Rainbow Health or even the staff come to terms with [the decision].”

The union also reports that the Board of Directors didn’t answer questions from staff regarding the decision to close the clinic during this meeting. A complete lack of money is the closest thing to an explanation that employees were able to come up with.

One employee, Rik Kutcher, described in a press conference how Rainbow Health had helped him move to Minnesota and get treatment for HIV and addiction.

“I was connected to a transitional housing program for two years that helped me get to a place in my life where I could elevate my life,” Kutcher said. “All of these services, I got food assistance, all of these services came from Rainbow Health. And had I not had those services, I don’t know if I would have gotten to a place in my life to elevate to where I am today.”

“And I’m proud to say that I have been seven years into a recovery and came to this agency four years ago being able to give back to the community with what I’ve received beyond the services, the support, the understanding of what it is to live with HIV. And I know firsthand how important these services are to our community,” Kutcher added.

One employee hosted a name change clinic pro bono after the layoffs, which featured over 50 people attending. Others were working to contact clients who were on food and rent assistance.

According to the union, these mass layoffs violate their contract with Rainbow Health, which specified the need for at least 30 days notice before any layoffs occurred. A separate layoff of three to four people occurred in April, when financial concerns were initially discussed. These employees were also given same-day notice, but they had their paid-time-off paid out, unlike the currently laid-off employees.

Staff were only vaguely made aware of financial issues in the nonprofit. Discussions were had as far back as April during previous layoffs, but the Board and other executives did not respond to questions about the future of the company and what the financial findings were.

“We saw a pattern emerge that executive leadership at Rainbow Health were unwilling to actually answer questions directly relating to our finances. As the picture grew more clear over the months we kept demanding answers,” said former employee Ash Tifa. “There it was clear that we weren’t being given the full story. We knew that when we opened, staff were aware there was serious financial turmoil. If you look at the fundraising numbers, we were not pulling in what we were expecting.”

“We were not communicated with any of their findings until Thursday last week. We had corridor conversations about our financials, but nobody had actually come out to tell us this was their findings. And this was the reason that they shut us down. No, we don’t know anything about why or the reason they took their decision,” said McLaughlin.

The union still plans to support both former employees and clients, regardless of how the Board continues to act.

“The union approach is twofold. We are going to continue demanding that we are paid out our paid time off and also paid for the 30-day notice that we were never given. And then we [demand they have] a meeting with the union, which our contract stipulates,” said Tifa.

“The second thing we’re doing for union staff is being a place together,” Tifa continued. “We are still standing in solidarity and support for each other. And we are going to continue to have these conversations about how we show up for one another as former staff, not just the former unionized staff, but managers, non-union staff, former employees. Rainbow Health is an organization that had a really large impact on a lot of people. And we are going to continue to work with the queer and HIV-centered nonprofits that continue to do this work.” 

“There are union staff and managers who are working pro bono to ensure a continuity of care for clients and patients. Individual members are going really, really far to ensure that clients are as taking care of as they can be. And as a union we stand with them and are here to support them in any ways we can,” Tifa said.

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