Amidst decreases in public funding and questions about future spending, Ald. Mark Tendam (6th) says Evanston’s HIV/AIDS outreach is falling behind demand.
Better Existence with HIV, a Chicago AIDS resource organization, closed its Evanston office last year due to a decrease in state funding. The organization worked with Evanston Township High School to educate about HIV/AIDS and STDs, Tendam said. That partnership has stopped since the closing of BEHIV’s Evanston clinic, he said.
BEHIV also offered anonymous HIV testing, Tendam said. Its departure leaves the city with two clinics offering testing services: CarePoint Outreach on Custer Street and Peer Services Inc. on Davis Street. Tendam said he wishes that number were higher.
“You would think by now we’d be more accepting and understanding of people with HIV and AIDS, but for some reason it still triggers an alarm in people,” he said. “That stigma keeps people from getting tested, and the lack of anonymous testing only increases the difficulty people feel when deciding to get tested.”
About 10 people a month, mostly ex-felons, request HIV testing at CarePoint, said CarePoint manager and substance abuse counselor Sherry Leo. CarePoint also offers Hepatitis C testing, drug rehabilitation and other services to help disadvantaged people stay healthy and find jobs. Outreach sites in Chicago work with CarePoint to offer free HIV testing in Chicago.
Still, Tendam said the two Evanston clinics are not enough for the increasing number of city residents with HIV, AIDS and STDs.
“It’s cause and effect,” he said. “Because there aren’t strong resources, diseases are on the rise.”
Evanston’s communicable disease specialist Margaret Mathias said residents still have access via public transportation to additional free testing clinics in Chicago. In addition, the loss of an anonymous testing site in the city seems to reflect a statewide trend; since 2007, many Illinois clinics have moved away from anonymous testing in order to follow up with patients, she said.
“If we can’t follow up and give you your test results and you don’t follow up yourself, we have no way of finding you,” she said.
This city is looking to improve knowledge about testing resources by enhancing the visibility of city services by improving the city website, Mathias said.
“The Health Department is revamping its website so we can make those resources a little more accessible to people,” she said. “The section that deals with STDs and HIV isn’t very comprehensive, so we’re trying to add more information.”
The recent national health care reform law has the potential to improve Evanston HIV/AIDS testing services, but it will not lead to change immediately, Tendam said.
“Laws are being made faster than can be implemented,” he said. “The sooner the people realize what a good thing this is, the sooner we can move on and get the services we need.”
Evanston plans to partner with private outreach sites in the future to increase accessibility to testing, Tendam said. Budget funds must be allocated before this process can begin, but many private organizations are interested in a joint collaboration, he said.
“We need to get around the red tape and all the things that come with these complex plans,” Tendam said. “We really need more services here, and we’re not quite there yet.”
