ACAP offers free HIV testing
PRESQUE ISLE — Dec. 1, 2011, is recognized as World AIDS Day. The 2011 theme is “Getting To Zero.” To help raise awareness about HIV and AIDS, community members are asked to wear a red ribbon during the month of December.
To help recognize the importance of Worlds AIDS Day and Getting To Zero, ACAP Health Services is offering no-cost HIV testing at their Houlton Health Center on Thursday, Dec. 1, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; at their Presque Isle Health Center on Friday, Dec. 2, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and at their Fort Kent Health Center on Monday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. All testing is anonymous, confidential and needle-free, with results provided that day.
According to the Maine AIDS Alliance, there are an estimated 1,300 Mainers living with HIV/AIDS, with 50 percent of them being women. World AIDS Day’s importance is to remind people that HIV and AIDS have not gone away and that much still needs to be done to help reduce the rate of people contracting this virus. HIV destroys the body’s immune system which makes a person more vulnerable to other infections, including the common cold or the flu virus.
Know your status. Consider getting tested. For more information call Jo-Ellen Kelley, ACAP community education specialist, at 768-3026 or 800-432-7881. ACAP provides the people of Aroostook with services and programs in the areas of community services, health, child and family, energy and housing, and employment and training.