Alyssa Wejebe / Roundup
HIV/AIDS Awareness Week will offer free HIV testing and showcase guest speakers talking about what it’s like to live with the disease.
Free testing is scheduled below:
· Next Monday, 2 to 7 p.m.
· Next Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
· Next Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
· Next Thursday, 2 to 7 p.m.
Tests will be held in front of the Student Services Building at Parking Lot 1.
Beth Benne, Director of the Student Health Center at Pierce College, said that the testing is spread over four days and with different hours to serve the campus.
“I’m hoping to make it convenient for students.”
Benne described the relative privacy of the testing.
“Because it’s confidential, anyone can do it,” she said. “We’re not checking student ID.”
According to Benne, the free tests will either be a finger-stick blood test or an oral swab in a person’s cheek area.
Benne said that results should be completed within 20 to 30 minutes.
She said that when first arriving at Pierce College, one week was needed for testing, while another was needed for the results.
“It’s amazing how we’ve progressed in that regard…it’s pretty cool,” said Benne.
Benne confirmed the validity of the vendors offering this free service.
“They’re government funded, there’s no question,” said Benne.
Vendors will require students to fill out demographic information, “but in exchange, we get a free test,” said Benne.
She mentioned how students could forget to return for their results. The new speed in testing helps with this issue.
“Students don’t have to wait—that’s key,” said Benne.
The Speakers Bureau with Being Alive, the nonprofit organization run by and for people with HIV/AIDS, arrived at Pierce on Monday, talking to classes where teachers had requested them.
“It’s a group of people with HIV who go out to schools and tell the story of what it’s like living with HIV,” described Colin Hadlow, who runs the Speakers Bureau.
According to Hadlow, four speakers are scheduled to present.
Hadlow said he’s “spoken a lot at Pierce,” but he’ll give one of two new people the chance to speak this year on campus.
He said that he’s “always had a very good reception from students” at Pierce College and was “always treated with great respect.”
Hadlow talked about the frequency of testing.
“I don’t think that many kids get tested,” said Hadlow.
According to Hadlow, the highest rate of infection is among people aged 15 to 24.
Hadlow spoke about the Speakers Bureau’s goals.
“We hope they [the audience] learn to think twice before they have unprotected sex,” said Hadlow. “It’s so easy to prevent.”
According to Hadlow, sex isn’t the only way to get infected with HIV.
He said that the use of intravenous drugs (where needles are used) can transmit HIV too.
Hillel Wasserman, former chair of the Speakers Bureau, said that HIV can also be transmitted when an infected mother breast feeds her infant since there are “large concentrations of the virus in breast milk.”
Wasserman listed other bodily fluids HIV can be found in: blood, semen or seminal fluid (such as premature ejaculation), and vaginal fluids.
He said that a small amount of HIV can be found in saliva, but that it’s not enough for infection.
HIV/AIDS is “such a hidden disease,” said Hadlow. “We just look like everybody else.”
Wasserman advocated HIV testing too.
“Knowledge is more than power…knowledge is actually your life.”
He said a person should be tested at least every six months. He said it was “like scheduling tooth cleaning at the dentist.”
Wasserman said that “test numbers just rocket” when his group visits.
He said that many adolescents are taught that only vaginal sex counts when it comes to losi
ng virginity—sot they figure they can get around that through anal and oral sex. But Wasserman said that was still sex, and another way to get infected with HIV.
ng virginity—sot they figure they can get around that through anal and oral sex. But Wasserman said that was still sex, and another way to get infected with HIV.
Benne said the HIV/AIDS Awareness Week on campus is normally held every fall and every spring. But last fall, the event was cancelled due to the Health Center’s move to the second floor of the Student Services Building.
She said that faculty and students asked about what happened to HIV/AIDS Awareness week last fall.
“They noticed it; they were disappointed,” said Benne. “Just to have it [the event] is my biggest goal.”
The presentation “Sex in the 21st Century” will be hosted tomorrow by Debbie Sargent, a nurse practitioner at Pierce College, in the Great Hall from 1 to 3 p.m.
More information can be found at http://www.beingalivela.org/pages/services/speakers-bureau.html and http://www.piercecollege.edu/offices/health_center/.
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Steve Bolan addresses Pierce College media arts students today on the upcoming HIV/AIDS Awareness Week. Bolan is a member of “Being Alive,” a coalition that offers services from education to support. (Elliot Golan / Roundup)