About AIDS
National HIV Testing Day Is Wednesday, June 27
By Sandy Bartlett, Fri., June 22, 2001
Free testing will be available from 10am until 6pm at Pease Park, located along Shoal Creek just west of Lamar, south of 24th Street. The Austin/Travis County Health Department will have a mobile unit there, providing HIV testing and counseling. CARE will also have a mobile unit parked at Sixth and Henderson, right behind Whole Foods/BookPeople.
These Testing Day sites, just like the Health Department's regular locations, will be staffed by savvy, friendly folks who know what they're doing. The test can be either anonymous (no real name) or confidential. Counseling will be provided so that people understand what the test actually is going to tell them, the nature of risk behaviors, and how those risks might be avoided in the future.
For those of you who are afraid of needles, relax. These days, it's done with a type of mouth swab; a blood draw generally isn't needed. For people who have risk for Hepatitis C, that test can also be performed.
For more information, or for HIV testing at other times at the regular sites, call 469-2119. For UT students, the Student Health Center is always a convenient location (475-8265).
As a city, Austin has a disproportionately high per-capita rate of HIV infection, reflecting our very youthful population. And if Austin is like the rest of the country, at least 30%-40% of those infected don't know it. The only way to really know your HIV status is to Take the Test - and Take Control!