Mobile HIV Testing Unit Provides Answers Within Minutes
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The Sacramento LGBT Community Center hopes to use its mobile HIV-testing unit to get more people to take control of their health.
About 14 percent of people who have HIV have no idea they've contracted the disease.
"This is something they are unknowingly transmitting to their partners and of course, not getting into care," said Donald Bentz, the center's executive director.
The statistic is something the center is hoping to change with the use of its mobile testing unit, which can provide peace of mind in about 20 minutes with a simple oral swab.
And that's not all.
"Part of the testing process is that you get pretest counseling where they explain what HIV is and what the test is doing and if you are positive. There is post-counseling, and they do a confirmation blood draw," Bentz said.
The center believes the mobile unit is a key to fighting this disease.
"It's very important because we need to go where the people are, not require them to come to us. We need to make HIV testing as accessible as possible to everybody," Bentz said.
And though unplanned, the center is hoping to make the most of the historic move by the Supreme Court on Friday to allow same-sex marriage nationwide.
"So, to be out at 20th and K, which is the epicenter of the LGBT community night life here, we think we'll hopefully be doing a lot of tests and there will be a lot of response to this service," Bentz said.
The center says it's so important to provide greater accessibility to these tests in order to lower the number of people impacted by the virus.
The mobile testing unit provided free tests until about eight Saturday night. For more information on HIV testing, head to http://saccenter.org.