Free, confidential HIV testing offered by Rainbow Alliance and the LGBT Resource Center ran out Friday before the three-hour event ended.
Students lined up outside the Wildcat Room in Norris University Center for the confidential tests supplied by Asian Human Services, a Chicago-based organization.
Testing lasted from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and was open to walk-ins. The organization supplied about 20 tests.
“This was sort of a test run to see how much interest there is and how logistically it would work out,” said Caroline Perry, Rainbow Alliance student outreach and guidance and peer solutions chair.
The Weinberg senior said the organizing groups felt fortunate to find an organization willing to provide off-site testing.
The Chicago-based Howard Brown Health Center used to make rapid, anonymous testing available for six NU students each month through University Health Services. Those spots filled up weeks in advance and students were often placed on a waitlist.
Now, however, costs prohibit the Center from continuing its on-campus option. Health Services still offers its own confidential testing appointments. They cost $30 and the results are entered into the student’s health record.
The demand for the tests has not changed, Perry said. She said students have shown increasing awareness of their sexual health.
“HIV rates have been decreasing in general, but among youth, and especially in certain subgroups of the population, they’re actually increasing,” Perry said.
Anonymous, “on-the-spot” testing is the most popular option among students, said Lisa Currie, NU’s director of health promotion and wellness.
The distinction between confidential and anonymous testing is all in a person’s name. Anonymous testers don’t need to give one.
Instead, they can use a string of numbers or an alias. There is still a unique identification attached to the test, but it’s impossible to trace back, Currie said.
She said she doesn’t think the stigma surrounding getting tested is as much of a concern for today’s students as it has been in the past. It’s the cost, she said: anonymous tests are usually offered for free.
“There may be some leftover stigma for some people, but not as much with today’s students,” Currie said.
Whatever their reason for getting tested, she said students are getting in the habit of protecting themselves. The top three sexually transmitted diseases are HPV, gonorrhea and chlamydia, all of which are treatable.
HIV is less comMonday, she said, but also much less manageable.
“We’re trying to make sure students understand that if you’re protecting yourself from HIV, you’re protecting your body from a whole host of STDs,” Currie said.
Rainbow Alliance and the LGBT Resource Center plan to hold another test before the quarter ends and several during the winter, Perry said.
