Northwestern’s monthly anonymous HIV testing clinic is filled for February and has started a wait list for March.
The clinics are offered at Searle Hall through Howard Brown Health Center, a Chicago-based organization that offers free, rapid and anonymous HIV testing for six NU students each month, said Lisa Currie, NU’s director of health promotion and wellness.
The anonymous service is separate from NU Health Service’s confidential, by-appointment testing, Currie said. University testing costs $30, is connected with a student’s name and is entered into his or her health record. Results are usually available in about one week, according to Health Services’ Web site.
With anonymous ‘on-the-spot’ testing, students get immediate results, Currie said. She said there was high demand for such testing.
‘They’re booked up every month,’ she said.
Doris Dirks, coordinator for student organizations at the Center for Student Involvement, said the LGBT Resource Center helps promote the testing.
‘Basically we have a captive community of people who might want to take advantage of that testing,’ Dirks said.
The gay community may be especially interested in anonymous testing, she said.
‘For example the (American) Red Cross won’t accept blood donations from gay males who are sexually active,’ Dirks said. ‘I feel like there’s still an idea within the gay community that anonymous testing is going to be safer in terms of privacy issues.’
Jaclyn Pruitt, health educator and evaluator at Howard Brown, said some individuals like to keep their information private.
‘The information we collect is very minimal,’ she said. ‘It gives people peace of mind.’
The center operates at many different sites around the city, and the frequency of clinics depends on the location, Pruitt said.
Currie said NU may not be considered a high-risk population by Howard Brown, and the University would be willing to do more testing.
‘Sometimes it’s just an issue of economics,’ she said.
Albert Yan, an assistant in the LGBT Resource Center, said he thought it would be ‘wonderful’ if the University could provide more anonymous testing to meet students’ needs.
‘I think almost everyone who gets tested wants it to be anonymous because if the results do come back positive, you should be the one in power to tell the people that you know,’ the Weinberg and Bienen sophomore said. ‘It’s your business and your doctor’s business. No one else’s.’ [email protected]
