Ellington

UW TEST, an outreach HIV-testing program, is beginning operations soon at the nonprofit Seattle Area Support Groups (SASG) house on Capitol Hill. UW medical students, in collaboration with SASG and King County Public Health, will run the program, and in the process, earn experience for themselves while helping others.

In 2006, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that every American between the ages of 13 and 64 should be screened routinely for HIV.

“It’s easy to say that but harder for the medical community to actually put that into practice,” said Derek Blechinger, director of clinical services for UW TEST and a second-year medical student at the UW.

UW TEST is hoping to accomplish two major goals in light of the CDC’s recommendation. First, it hopes to offer free HIV testing and counseling to a wide community and, second, to help medical students gain valuable experience interacting and consulting with patients.

“We are hoping to give med students practical experience in talking with people before and after the test,” Blechinger said. “There’s already some groundwork laid for med students. They know how to take patient histories, for example, but hands-on conversation is something we’re hoping to provide.”

Despite advances in medicine that no longer render a positive test-result a death threat, HIV is still a serious illness. In order to expedite the program’s opening and to prepare medical students to handle such a delicate situation as well as the test administration, Blechinger has compressed the official King County training for HIV testing and counseling from a two-day to one-day program. He has seven years of experience administering HIV tests, making him well-suited to draft the revised training that UW medical students will undergo.

Training will be Jan. 15, the Sunday after the group’s Jan. 14 fundraising cabaret in Kane Hall at 7 p.m., said Olivia Lucero, president of UW TEST and also a second-year medical student.

Lucero said the first meeting they held to attract volunteer medical students had around 50 potential volunteers show up. Given that, in order to administer the test and to counsel, a test administrator needs to have training and experience in shadowing physicians, Lucero is hoping for eight to 15 medical students who will run the testing site on a regular basis.

The actual process of HIV testing is simple, but the consultation is the complex aspect. UW TEST has already received HIV testing kits from King County Public Health. With these kits, all that’s needed to test for HIV is a drop of blood from a patient’s finger and 20 minutes. Given the simplicity of the procedure, Lucero and Blechinger are hoping to start offering testing Jan. 19.

“The logistics and fundraising are some of the more difficult challenges,” Lucero said. She added that some materials, such as cotton swabs, Band-Aids, and backup kits need to be obtained, and that scheduling and making sure SASG has the rooms is essential.

Jake Ketchum, program manager at SASG, is assisting UW TEST in the logistics. SASG has a wide range of community programs and a long history of support for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. SASG has been working in the Seattle area since 1984, Ketchum said.

“Our calendar is packed with dozens of events scattered between 25 to 30 groups, showing that we have so many ties to hundreds of people. It made sense to have the testing in a place where there already is help and a target population.”

When Ketchum became program director of SASG a few years ago, he first envisioned an organization like UW TEST as an adjunct to the services SASG already provided. From there, it evolved into a joint effort between King County Public Health and UW Medicine to add another community service to SASG’s roster. HIV testing clinics elsewhere in Seattle chimed in with recommendations, aid, and training procedures.

Before they could start the program, they had to do a need-assessment first, prompted by Dr. Joanne Stekler, Ketchum said. Frank Chaffee, who manages the HIV/AIDS program at Public Health, assisted UW TEST in beginning to secure the HIV-testing procedures and kits.

“From there, it was only difficult organizing the space necessary for privacy and confidential testing,” Ketchum said.

He is looking forward to working with medical students and expanding the options available to the community.

“It’s crucial that we have the programs to help those who are suffering with HIV/AIDS,” Ketchum said. “But it also seemed necessary to offer testing just to increase awareness and also in a place where those who get bad news can find help.”

Reach reporter Garrett Black at news@dailyuw.com.