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What: Public Health Initiative RV has free testing for HIV, Hepatitis C and pregnancy
Hamilton: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 21 and August 18 outside Butler County Health Department, 301 S. Third St., Hamilton.
Middletown: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 14 and August 11 outside Primary Health Solutions, 930 Ninth Ave., Middletown. Also from 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays at Middletown Health Department, One Donham Plaza. Call 513-425-1818.
Local health officials in Middletown are offering free and confidential testing for HIV and other diseases.
In June, the Middletown Health Department started offering the anonymous testing from 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays at the health department, said Jackie Phillips, health commissioner.
Phillips said she’s now reaching out to “targeted high-risk groups” to provide information on the free testing. She’s already spoken to groups at The Gathering, a church that does outreach; Hope House, a ministry serving homeless individuals; and the Salvation Army, which has offered the city a confidential space to test people on site.
Phillips said a “public health initiative RV” also makes monthly stops in Hamilton and Middletown to offer additional free testing for hepatitis C, HIV and pregnancy.
Phillips said so far, 14 tests for HIV were negative but four positive cases of Hepatitis C were found.
Patricia Burg, director of Butler County Health Department, said in their first two hours of the RV being in Hamilton there was “good turnout.” Along with the free testing, Burg said those with a positive test are provided education, handouts and referrals.
The free testing takes about 20 minutes for a preliminary results using a finger prick. While waiting for results, a nurse inside the mobile unit will go over answers from a questionnaire on high-risk behaviors.
The testing is made possible through a $10,000 grant the Middletown Health Department was awarded from the Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County.
Needle exchange
While both the cities of Dayton and Cincinnati now have syringe exchange programs — with the goal of reducing the spread of HIV and other diseases — no Butler County community has established a program yet.
Phillips and Berg said they’d both support a clean needle exchange in Butler County.
“If we’re trying to have the healthiest community possible, we must meet people where they are and help them become as healthy as possible,” Phillips said.
Needle exchanges allow anyone with a “dirty” needle to exchange it out for a clean one. Phillips said the continual use of dirty needles can lead to the spread of disease and bacterial and skin infections.
“They’re shooting up any way; some people shoot up 12 times a day,” Phillips said.
Middletown City Manager Doug Adkins said in a recent blog post that he supports needle exchange coming to Middletown.
“The concept is to reduce harm while you get addicts into treatment. First, if the addict has clean needles, they are not exposed to HIV and Hepatitis and therefore are not contracting those diseases on top of their addiction, saving the taxpayer $500,000 over the addict’s lifetime. Second, the addict must exchange a dirty needle for a clean needle. In places where this has been implemented, addicts cleaned up all of the discarded needles around town, because now a needle is a commodity that has value and can be traded for a clean needle,” Adkins wrote.
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