Today is National HIV Testing Day and Cleveland’s Department of Public Health is offering free HIV testing to anyone 13 and older.
The event is being held at Cleveland’s Tower City Center in the Skylight Concourse from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
“Individuals will get a swab, they’ll swipe their gums and give it back to the tester. The tester will run the test and they will get preliminary HIV results within twenty minutes,” Lindsay Marcus with the AIDS Funding Collaborative said.
Marcus explained some people don’t know they’re HIV positive and the first step is knowing your status.
“In the state of Ohio, there’s over 17,000 people who are HIV positive and about 3,600 of those people are in Cuyahoga county alone,” Marcus said.
The tests are confidential and counseling will be available. Marcus said if the tests come back positive, that person will be referred to the health department for further testing.
If you take the test, you will be given a $10 gift card to Dave’s Supermarket.
Besides the free testing at Tower City Center, Metro Transit in Akron is offering free testing Thursday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Here is a list of other locations providing year-round free HIV testing:
Neon Health Centers
Cleveland Treatment Center/Project S.A.F.E.
Care Alliance Health Centers
Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio
Lorain City Health Department
AGAPE Program
Via: Newsnet5.com
