Student Health Service may scale back its free HIV testing clinics next year if it doesn’t see an increase in visitors, Student Association president Ashwin Narla said.
The free weekly clinic opened in November, after SA leaders lobbied to nix a $25 appointment fee they said deterred students from getting tested. About 120 students took the free tests in November and December – just 17 more than the same time last year when the fee was in place.
To draw more students, SHS is tapping student organizations like Allied in Pride and the GW Student Global AIDS Campaign to help with a marketing push. But if it fails, Narla said the clinics could be scaled down to two or three times per semester.
Chapter Leader for the GW Student Global AIDS Campaign Katherine Wynne said that the organization is “going to fight like heck” to preserve the free HIV clinics. “Other campuses have free testing. GW should not be an exception,” Wynne said.
SHS provided 528 HIV tests last year, a 200-test drop from the year before.
Narla said he was hopeful for the clinics’ success after more than 30 students came to the first session. But he said participation waned after midterms.
“Hopefully we can raise the numbers up a little bit, but if they continue to decline, I’ll be the first person to say we tried this program. But we didn’t see as much involvement as we would like, so we’ll take the next step forward and see what we can do differently,” Narla said.
Associate Director of Student Health Service Susan Haney said some students have found other avenues to get tested, such as routine office visits and through agencies like the D.C. Department of Health. The GW Hospital has also offered free walk-in testing since 2006. CVS also sells over-the-counter tests.
Haney added that the SHS did not have “any expectation of the numbers we would serve” and that she was pleased students were coming in.
This is just bad. It doesn’t matter how many students take advantage of it- there should be a place that is convenient and safe where students can get tested. I don’t know what scale back means, but to me it sounds like the first step in eliminating them, and such a move would be detrimental to all members of the GW community.
I work at GW hospital as an HIV screener and to be clear: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS WALK IN HIV TESTING here. You have to be a patient in the emergency room, therefore you must pay for the visit which could cost hundreds of dollars without insurance.
Check your facts.
@HIV SCREENER: This article is not about GW hospital, which treats all different kinds of people. The article is about GW’s Student Health Services, which is specifically for GW students, and not even in the same part of campus. Check your own facts before commenting.
The article does reference the hospital:
“The GW Hospital has also offered free walk-in testing since 2006.”
And that quote, according to “HIV SCREENER” is wrong.
@GW Alum: He/She is talking about the part of the article that says GW Hospital offers free walk-in services (paragraph 8), not SHS…did you even read this?
Why don’t the students focus on being HIV- and not engage in high risk behavior? No shooting drugs, no buggery, no hookers.
@Harry Balzac…I’m assuming that was a joke comment? If not anyone is at risk for HIV. Washington, DC has rates of HIV that are higher than most places in Africa. There are also many gay students at GW and HIV is more prevalent in the gay community. There should be free HIV testing at every university in the US.
Again, HIV is 100% preventable if you *do not engage in high risk behavior*.
Washington DC’s HIV infection is strongly tied to its drug problem, and individuals having sexual relations with HIV+ drug users. I am not sure how anyone in good conscience can condone IV drug abuse.