Friday, June 27, 2008

Councilmember Bernard C. Parks Launches HIV Testing Week at Nickerson Gardens


LOS ANGELES—Kicking off National HIV Testing Week in Los Angeles, Councilmember Bernard C. Parks will join Councilmember Janice Hahn and County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke in an effort to significantly increase the number of Los Angeles residents getting tested for HIV. The Call to Action and press conference will feature Emmy-nominated actress Gloria Reuben, who starred in the groundbreaking role of HIV positive nurse Jeanie Boulet on ER.

Free HIV and STD testing will be provided to residents of Nickerson Gardens and the surrounding Watts Community. The event is co sponsored by Minority AIDS Project and the Magic Johnson Foundation, and will be hosted by Jacquie Stephens of KJLH Radio.

This event is a key element of the City of Los Angeles’ HIV Testing Initiative, which is the largest municipal effort in the United States to call for implementation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing in Medical Settings, and the expansion of HIV testing in community-based settings. Through the Initiative, the City will significantly expand HIV counseling and testing by facilitating routine testing in medical facilities and throughout neighborhoods with a high prevalence of HIV infection.

Councilmember Parks noted, “We are committed to raising the call for quality healthcare and throughout Los Angeles’ most impacted communities.” “Access to quality healthcare includes access to routine HIV screening,” added City of Los Angeles AIDS Coordinator Stephen David Simon.

The goals of the Testing Initiative are threefold: facilitate an increase in public and private HIV testing to a level that will result in one million people in the City knowing their status by 2011; make HIV counseling and testing more routine and attainable, thereby also reducing the stigma associated with taking an HIV test; and increase identification of HIV positive individuals, resulting in earlier treatment and prevention of disease transmission to others.


Posted by the Bernard C. Parks for Supervisor Campaign


1 comment:

Mike Craycraft said...

Congratulations to Councilman Parks for taking part in the HIV testing. With our current economic status and health care crisis more and more individuals are having to turn to the non-traditional means for their preventive health care such as HIV testing. An additional option for testing is the single FDA-approved home HIV testing kit which is available at many pharmacies and online home health screening companies. The bottom line is that no matter which way they do it, people just need to be tested.