Free HIV testing available as part of AIDS Awareness/Safe Love week

Free and anonymous HIV tests will be available today in the Indiana Memorial Union as part of AIDS Awareness/Safe Love week. The tests will be administered in the Dogwood Room from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Staff members from Positive Link, a regional AIDS service organization operating out of Bloomington Hospital, will administer the tests. \nPositive Link representatives said they expect about 300 people to participate in the free testing. The tests are one part of a week of events aiming to raise awareness about a disease that affects 33 million people in the world.\n“Being a student in the past, we need to make it known that HIV and AIDS are affecting Bloomington and Monroe County and it can happen to you even if you are young,” said Ashley Farrell, a Positive Link staff member and a former IU student. \nFarrell said people wanting to get an HIV test would first be asked to fill out a questionnaire citing what types of risks they have taken so the test will be accurate. The actual test involves a swabbing of the inner cheek; results are available in about 20 minutes. About nine Positive Link personnel will be at the Union administering the tests. Five will be giving tests at a time. \n“It’s not who you are but what you do that puts you at risk,” Farrell said. \nKatie Wilkinson, a master’s student in School of Public and Environmental Affairs, is currently interning at the IU Health Center and is one of the students responsible for organizing the week. \n“People need to internalize that it is a huge issue,” she said. “By raising awareness on campus and allowing students to see what’s currently going on in the research as well as engaging in discussion, they will feel like this is a really big deal.” \nThe health center will hold a panel presentation “Positive Lives: HIV in the 21st Century,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Grand Hall at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. \n“This is the first year I’ve been a panelist,” said Kevin Phelps, a member of Positive Link who will speak at on the panel. “I’ve come to see the panels in the past, but this is the first time I’ve been asked to speak. I’m very excited. I’ve wanted to speak for a long time.” \nPhelps said he hopes that this week helps to raise awareness about the disease he \nlives with. \n“We really need to get the message out there and get more people tested,” he said.\nFarrell said all the panelists are clients of Positive Link.\n“These people know exactly what they are feeling and it’s so brave of them to share their story and we really appreciate that,” Farrell said. \nMichael Reece, director of the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation’s Center for Sexual Health Promotion, will also speak about “HIV Epidemic and Sexual Health Research” at noon Wednesday at the Latino Culture Center.