Friday, January 25, 2008

Dallas-based AIDS Arms to kick off new program

By David Webb of Dallas Voice

Lloyd Rodgers, prevention program manager for AIDS Arms, wants to take testing outreach to new places to locate people who are “hard to reach.”

AIDS Arms will launch a new program Feb. 1 to provide walk-in HIV testing at its Oak Cliff administration office.

The program will also provide outreach testing to nightclubs, bathhouses and other venues where people meet sexual partners, according to Lloyd Rodgers, prevention program manager for the agency.

The program will begin with a quick-test that involves pricking a thumb for a blood sample, but it will be expanded to include taking blood samples with syringes so both HIV and syphilis testing can be accomplished, he said.

Rodgers said that agency officials want to broaden outreach in Dallas by visiting unique venues. Both gay and straight businesses will be targeted, he said.

“We want to try and find areas and locations where people haven’t been before,” Rodgers said. “We want to reach people who are heard to reach.”

Some of the new places to be targeted are the 24-hour Alcoholics Anonymous club at Ross and Carroll streets and the topless bars on Northwest Highway, Rodgers said. The agency is working in cooperation with the Dallas Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, which has previously conducted outreach-testing programs.

“Although our approach is very broad, we are not losing track of the fact that huge num-bers of gay men are still affected by this,” Rodgers said.

The new program is being launched at a time when HIV service agency officials warn that HIV infections in the gay community are increasing. Prevention messages have become stale, and many young and older gay men have become complacent about the dangers of HIV infections, they say.

Rodgers said the outreach will target both HIV-positive and HIV-negative people.

“A large percentage of the people will be working with are going to be HIV-negative,” Rodgers said. “The design of our program is to intervene in such a way to help them stay that way.

“We’re going to engage people about their sexual behavior, and without creating any kind of moral judgment we’re going to try to interest them in reducing their risk behaviors.”

Rodgers said he hopes to recruit newly tested people to encourage their friends to get tested too. Incentives, such as movie passes or food cards, might be offered to people who convince a couple of friends to get tested, he said.

“We’ve brainstormed some ideas, but they’re not solid yet,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers said the model for the program was developed by the Centers for Disease Control five years ago, and it is being carried out in some form in every state and major city. UT Southwestern previously carried out similar testing outreach to gay bars in Dallas, he noted.

AIDS Arms provides case management for HIV-positive people to help them access resources, and it provides outpatient care through the Peabody Health Center in South Dallas.

The administration offices are at 219 Sunset St. Suite 116A. For information call 214-521-5191 or visit aidsarms.org.

Pegasus News content partner - Dallas Voice
The community newspaper for gay & lesbian Dallas.

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