Campus HIV testing site to remain open all summer long

The doctor is in this summer at the University's Anonymous HIV Testing Site. Although campus activity slows down during summertime, the site -- which offers free HIV counseling and testing to the Penn community -- will operate on its regular schedule. Even in these months demand is steady, according to Kurt Conklin, a health educator in the University's Office of Health Education. Indeed, demand for the free services has been consistently high since the opening of the facility in October 1993. Since that time, the site has seen over 1,000 people, Conklin said. Project Coordinator Delores Solivan estimated that 15 to 25 people visit the center each Thursday. While the patients are mostly University students, the site is also frequented by faculty, employees and members of the surrounding community, Conklin said. While many patients visit the center in response to an experience such as sex, some visit the testing site out of routine regard for their health. "It is natural for a student to be worried about HIV, especially after an incident has happened that concerned them," Conklin said. "[However] many students are proactive about their health, just to get peace of mind." Solivan said patients are offered one-on-one counseling before being tested. "A counseling session involves reviewing HIV, what it means, asking the client why they want to be tested, and discussion concerning safer sex [and] drug use," she added. Conklin said this distinguishes the site from other testing centers, because "many places that do HIV testing do not offer any counseling." Although the facility is located in the Dental School, Solivan said it is not managed by the University, adding that the site is operated by the Women's Anonymous Test Site of Hahnemann University Hospital. "All Penn does is provide the space in the Dental School and some supplies," said Solivan. "The University has been really great so far in providing support for us." Because the service is anonymous, Conklin could not disclose whether any patients have been diagnosed as HIV-positive. However, he did insist that patient satisfaction is very high nonetheless. He said the feedback from an ongoing patient survey has been "overwhelmingly positive."

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