Miami University Offers Free HIV Testing

By Claire Williams

Miami University journalism student

On Friday, March 3rd, slowly but steadily, people make their way in and out of the Women’s Center at Miami University.

At 10 a.m., the doors to the center in McGuffy Hall open for free HIV testing. The tests are offered the first and third Friday of every month and are open to everyone -- students, faculty, even residents of Oxford.

The service is run by BACCHUS, the university and community based network focused on comprehensive health and safety initiatives. The tests are anonymous, efficient and fast. It is a simple swab test for saliva. People can get their results in fifteen minutes.

Though the spread of the AIDS epidemic in the United States has slowed since the 1980's, the CDC says 31,513 people were diagnosed with the HIV, the virus which leads to AIDS, in 2015.

According to the Ohio Department of Health, 902 people were diagnosed with HIV infection in Ohio in 2015. In Butler County, 17 people were HIV positive, which is about .02 percent of Ohio's population.

The majority of individuals testing HIV positive were in their 20's and 30's.

So why offer free HIV testing in a place with relatively low numbers of HIV diagnoses?

How It All Began

Janae Arno, the Student Wellness Coordinator, believes that the testing is not only a resource many students want, it is also a catalyst for conversation.

"It isn’t just about HIV, it’s about taking responsibility for your sexual health and knowing there is a resource out there that helps students. It gives them somewhere private where they can either ease their minds without having to worry about their parents seeing it on their insurance bill at the end of the month."

Arno also heads BACCHUS, which leads campus campaigns in safe sexual practices.

"This is all about a bigger campaign -- getting yourself tested and keeping others in the community safe. It provides an opportunity to educate and bring awareness."

She said that the project began after conversations she had with ASG, the Associated Student Government. Arno says she was trying to find out what issues students wanted prioritized on campus. STI's, sexually transmitted infections, were at the top of the list.

"We wanted to look at the options and see, if there were any at all, to try and do some testing here on site."

BACCHUS, under the guidance of Arno, started doing research and reaching out to Planned Parenthood and public health departments. They got in contact with a group in Dayton, Ohio called the AIDS Resource Center. The center had grants available to provide free HIV testing on campus.

The testing started in the spring of 2016. It took place in the Student Health Center. Arno said students flocked to the service and the numbers remained steady, only decreasing during midterms and finals week.

Seeing The Results

Jordan Hallbauer is an intern at the Women’s Center. She says she's impressed by the number of people who come out for the testing.

"I think it is an amazing program. It has had a lot of success here. It offers a service that is integral, a service that not a lot of people know where to find on their own."

Mary Martin also interns at the Women’s Center and says she's proud of the Center for offering such an important resource for free.

"I think that having HIV testing is a vital part of health care. Anyone who is sexually active should be tested for HIV. Once, we ran out of tests," Martin says. "Over 100 people came in, the whole center was filled completely."

To Arno, this is proof the program is working.

However, at the start of the school year this fall, the testing lost its room in the Student Health Center. Arno was initially nervous about where the testing would be housed, but she had no reason to be.

"The Women’s Center came to us and said please, have the testing here. So that’s what we did. They reserved space for us last fall and this spring to host our testing days."

Moving Forward

Arno and the Women’s Center hope that by using the HIV testing as a stepping-stone, they can gradually expand to other forms of STI testing. She says that it is invaluable for students to have free, confidential testing.

"Students aren’t quite adults yet. They aren’t going to go out and seek out care. Our job is to say what can we do on our end to educate them before it gets to that point," Arno says.

"I didn’t even know they were happening," Miami junior Bethie Walker says. "I think it’s a good thing they are anonymous, I know a lot of people really don’t want their parents to know they are getting tested for this kind of thing."

Next semester, the Women's Center plans to move its headquarters to Armstrong Student Center. The move will interrupt the testing, as the Center will not have the room to host it, but Arno remains optimistic space will be found.

"This testing really is something everyone wants. I know there will be a place for it, because it's needed."

Photo: Sign pointing the way to free, confidential HIV testing at Miami University's Women's Center. --Photo by Claire Williams