TWO SMALL GRANTS BUY TIME FOR BUCKS AIDS TESTING PROGRAM: THE TESTING PROGRAM LOST A $32,000, THREE-YEAR GRANT. TWO $5,000 GRANTS WILL GIVE IT BREATHING ROOM TO FIND OTHER DONORS.

A funding drought that stirred organizers of the Bucks County Planned Parenthood HIV testing service to predict its probable demise has instead yielded two unexpected victories for the program.

The service, which provided free counseling and testing for the AIDS virus to more than 3,000 people during the last three years, has avoided an expected shutdown through two grants of $5,000 each from two groups - the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation of Philadelphia and Fighting AIDS Continuously Together, or FACT, of Bucks County.

Organizers expect the money to fund the service through the fall.

At the same time, participation in the program has increased by as much as 25 percent since officials announced in June that the service would likely end this past Wednesday.

Planned Parenthood officials said they welcomed the larger numbers, which they attribute to increased public awareness of the program and a desire among some to be tested before the service ended.

Although the higher demand creates a need for more money, both developments have pleased organizers of the service, who now seek additional donors to continue the program through the year, said Linda Hahn, executive director of Bucks County Planned Parenthood.

``Our board is committed to keeping this thing going at the same level we always have,'' Hahn said.

The Philadelphia AIDS Consortium had funded the Planned Parenthood testing program with a $32,000 grant during each of the last three years. That funding, however, was eliminated this year amid an effort by the consortium to ensure racial parity in HIV testing in the Philadelphia region.

Although the Planned Parenthood funding was cut, the AIDS consortium awarded a $44,350 grant for HIV-prevention activities to the Family Services Association of Bucks County, which proposed to target prevention services primarily to African Americans. Overall, 70 percent of those in the Philadelphia region with HIV are African American, consortium officials said.

Since Planned Parenthood went public with its money problem in early June, the two groups have offered to fill the funding gap. Planned Parenthood also plans a fund-raising party in early August.

The anonymous Planned Parenthood testing service runs evenings in five locations throughout the county. It does not target any one demographic group. Other local testing programs, including one operated by the Bucks County Health Department, have limited daytime hours.

Hahn said she had visited with Philadelphia AIDS Consortium board members and intended to apply next year to reinstate the funding. She contends that the consortium's effort to create racial parity is unfair in Bucks County, where more than 95 percent of the population is white and less than 3 percent is black, according to 1990 census figures.

``I think [consortium board members] thought hard and long,'' Hahn said last week. ``This is a county where a quota system may not be as applicable.''

FOR MORE INFORMATION * For more information or to contribute to the Bucks County Planned Parenthood HIV testing program, call Linda Hahn at 215-785-4594.

Credit: By Todd Bishop, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT