New HIV Rapid Testing Comes to RI

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

GoLocalProv Health Team

AIDS Project RI is introducing a rapid HIV testing program and a new Web site, both focusing on increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS issues from a personal and public health standpoint.
 
“The testing program is a first for The Project in recent memory perhaps in its quarter century history,” said Thomas Bertrand, who became The Project’s executive director earlier this year. “The goal is to make anonymous HIV testing quick, easy and convenient for people who want to know their HIV status.”   With support from the Rhode Island Department of Health, the HIV tests are offered at no cost.

Know your HIV status

Knowing one’s status is critical to prevention and treatment, Bertrand said. “Thirty years after the Centers for Disease Control identified the first AIDS cases in our country, the disease remains incurable, potentially deadly, expensive and preventable."
 
The program is provided free, thanks to a grant from the Rhode Island Department of Health.

A new Web site for RI

The new www.aidsprojectri.org site is designed to be a user-friendly, Rhode Island-specific site. Features include a “quick risk quiz,” and question and answer pages for teenagers, college students, parents, gay and bisexual men and others. Mr. Bertrand, who has a master’s degree in public health, consulted with doctors at The Miriam Hospital on content.
 
The site, developed by designer Andrai Whitted, was made possible through a grant from Equity Action at The Rhode Island Foundation.
 
The testing program, which will have its first session today, August 23, is a three-step process.
 
1. Visit the AIDS Project RI office, 404 Wickenden Street, Providence, Tuesdays between 4 and 6 p.m. or make an appointment. Appointments are preferred and can be made by emailing [email protected] or by calling 401-831-5522.
 
2. The person to be tested meets with one of The Project’s HIV test counselors, who will ask some questions and administer the test, which is oral.  “No blood draw, no fingerstick, so it’s painless,” he said.  Test results are usually available in twenty to thirty minutes.
 
3. Anyone who has a reactive test result will immediately receive counseling, and arrangements will be made for a confirmatory HIV test at The Miriam Hospital Immunology Center.
 

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