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Even through a pandemic, AIDS Resource, located on West Third Street, has been helping HIV positive clients and community members with not only scheduled free HIV and STI tests but also at home HIV testing kits through the 10 counties the Resource serves from Lycoming and Clinton to Union.
At Thursday's Kiwanis meeting, Jolene Drum, AIDS Resource case management assistant, spoke about the "two-fold" process of caring for their clients and the community as well as spoke about education and medicines that have helped our local communities dealing with HIV. With it being HIV Awareness Month, this was just the time to educate the community on what AIDS Resource has to offer.
"We work with our clients who are living with HIV or have an AIDS diagnosis and also with testing within the communities," Drum said. "Since the pandemic we have been able to send out at home HIV tests."
The tests were "spit into a tube tests," which,
according to Drum, were very easy and accessible during periods of closures and quarantine.
"We didn't want to stop their STI or HIV testing along with the pandemic," Drum said. "We want to make sure you are looking after your sexual health."
While walk-in tests are on pause momentarily, Drum said she hopes they will be back very soon.
Their work through the pandemic did not stop there.
AIDS Resource also educates students at schools about safe sex but also give out free condoms to community members and were sending those out during the pandemic closures as well. They also have free testing at Penn College of Technology.
Throughout the 10 counties they serve, they were also working with local cafes and catering businesses like Kitchen Repose and Farrington Place as well as companies like HelloFresh to deliver meals to their clients. They also were sending hygiene deliveries to clients to get things like shampoo, bandaids, anything that they may not have.
In terms of medical research, Drum spoke about Undetectable Equals Untransmittable helps clients who are taking antiretroviral therapy to help "suppress the viral load" which can help have HIV be undetectable via tests and even untransmittable after six months of being undetectable.
In addition, she also spoke about PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis which Drum described as a "birth control" like daily medication that helps prevent HIV on top of other preventative measures like condoms.
Each month, AIDS Resource holds a free clinic with doctors that describe PrEP and help clients decide if it is something they are interested in according to their press release.
Drum said that in the county, men who have sex with men are a majority of the clients and are "more at risk" for HIV.
"In terms of STI testing and positive rates... it is all over the board. STIs and HIV do not discriminate. We have all walks of life, every age, walking in…and everyone has a different story," Drum said.
AIDS Resource has been around for over 30 years, providing various services to those who are living with HIV or AIDS, helping erase the stigma and educating community members about prevention, medicine and sex education.
The West Third Street location has five case managers, as well as counselors and testing specialists to help answer any questions or provide services.
For more information, visit aidsresource.com.