HIV: It’s everywhere. As young people bombarded by every kind of media, we’re aware of the risks and we know we should get tested. But do we? With so many ways to get tested there’s really no excuse why we shouldn’t. Heck, you can order an HIV test online for 30 bucks that you don’t even have to send out to a lab. Health Services on the Portland Campus understands the value of that convenience, which is why they are again offering HIV testing.
Though they maintained the service through the Frannie Peabody Center for about three years, said Jane Coolidge, director of Health Services, they were left without the service when the organization pulled out.
“Their funding is so tight right now, that they really needed to focus on the highest risk groups in the population,” said Coolidge. The organizations parted amicably according to Coolidge but the University was left without a provider. Which is why they contacted Portland Public Health (PPH), which works within the community offering the service out of their home on India Street and at various locations like Deering High School, schools in Cumberland and York counties, jails and the Preble Street Resource Center.
“They were very excited about providing the service for us,” said Coolidge whose staff revived the program last December after a lapse of a few months. Though the staff at Health Services provides other types of STD testing, it’s unable to provide HIV testing because they haven’t received the training required by law to administer HIV tests, which is why they’ve chosen to contract the job to PPH. Coolidge said Health Services intends to eventually providing the service themselves.
“We want the service on campus and this is our interim solution,” she said.
Health Services provides the space in their facilities on the Portland campus and PPH, specifically USM student Kimberly Meehan-Brown an HIV/STD community educator at PPH, brings in equipment, administers the test and collects the money, all of which goes to PPH. The cost of the test is $25. Meehan-Brown said special arrangements can be made to ensure affordability to all students.
The fee can’t be added to your student bill. Since PPH provides the service and receives payment directly, said Noel Bonam, program director of PPH, this makes it very difficult to add the fee to the student bill. “It’s a mark of convenience but it’s hard to make that happen,” he said.
All testing is anonymous, unless otherwise requested, which means that though you’ll initially give your name to Health Services to validate that you’re a student, it won’t be used after that. “We just need to make sure it’s a student, we can’t take people off the streets,” said Coolidge.
You’ll then be given a special code in lieu of a name and your results won’t be documented on paper. They’ll be given verbally. You can request a confidential test if you require documented results.
“Sometimes you might have people who are leaving the country, who might be semi-professional athletes or for whatever reason want written results,” said Meehan-Brown. Health Services never sees the results even if confidential testing is requested. “We don’t share our documents with USM. We’re just using that as an off-site testing place,” said Bonam. Even the lab testing the blood doesn’t receive names-only code numbers.
The primary type of testing PPH does is the blood draw, which is still the most popular test on the market. Other tests on the market include Orasure, which is a swab used to grab fluid called oral mucosal transudate from the mouth, a finger pricking test called Oraquick, a urine test and the home testing kits.
PPH uses the blood draw primarily and the Orasure swab method if there are problems with the blood draw. Though tests like the Orasure are less invasive, Bonam said PPH prefers the blood draw because it tests for both strands of the HIV virus, while the Orasure only tests for one. He said that though HIV II is found primarily in Africa there have been a few cases of it reported here in the states in the past few months.
“As a public health agency we would like to encourage people to get a test that is conclusive…I personally would take a blood test than an oral swab,” said Bonam.
Money is also a factor. Sending an Orasure to the lab costs $25, while the blood draw costs $12.
Other factors come into play when deciding what type of test to use for a client. “You have some people who have very difficult, very small veins, sometimes you have people who really have a real fear of needles, truly a fear,” said Meehan-Brown. In those cases the staff resorts to the Orasure.
So unless you pass out at the sight of needles or your veins just won’t give it up, a blood draw is what you’ll get.
Unfortunately the spread of HIV is on the rise and the goals of PPH are awareness, prevention and education, which is why Meehan-Brown is focusing on outreach here on campus. She hopes to find students interested in working alongside her for outreach projects in the dormitories and other places on campus.
As of 2001, in the state of Maine, 42.4 percent of people aged 18-64 report having ever received an HIV test, which is comparable to the 45.6 percent reported nationwide. In 2003, only 18.5 percent of Mainers aged 18-64 received a test, compared to a nationwide 27.7 percent. Though Maine is one of the 39 states that require STD/HIV/AIDS education in its curriculum, the incidences of HIV are rising.
To schedule an HIV test, call Health Services at 780-4211. They’re currently being offered bi-weekly. There are no walk-ins at this time.