Public Health offers free STI testing

Anyone interested in making an appointment should call 719-539-4510. The testing is free to everyone and insurance information will not be collected. Testing results are confidential and clients will be provided assistance with follow-up care if necessary.

The tests that will be available include gonorrhea and chlamydia collected by urine sample; rapid syphilis, HIV and hepatitis C collected by a finger prick; and confirmatory syphilis, HIV and hepatitis C, collected by a blood draw.

Any individual who tests positive for these infections will be provided with many free or low-cost opportunities for treatment and disease management assistance. We will also offer urine pregnancy testing at no cost.

The following is the recommended testing schedule for each type of infection:

• Gonorrhea and chlamydia: Get tested once a year, with each new partner, or if you have a known exposure.

• Syphilis: Get tested once a year if you are sexually active, have a partner who tested positive, are a man who has sex with men, have HIV or are taking PrEP for HIV. If you are pregnant you should also get tested for syphilis since it can be very dangerous for babies.

• HIV: Everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should get tested once as part of their routine healthcare. Test more frequently if you are a man who as sex with men, are exposed to someone with HIV, you share needles or other drug equipment or you have another STI.

• Hepatitis C: Everyone 18 or older should get tested once as part of their routine healthcare. Test more frequently if you are pregnant, inject drugs, have HIV, have abnormal liver tests or liver disease, are on hemodialysis, received blood or organs before July 1992, received clotting factor concentrates before 1987, have been exposed to blood from someone who has hepatitis C, or were born to a mother with hepatitis C.

“Getting tested for STIs should never be shameful or embarrassing. STIs are extremely common and most individuals will get an STI at some point in their life,” Chaffee County Public Health nurse Tanya Wait said.

“For most STIs, if they are discovered and treated quickly, there are typically no negative health outcomes. For more significant infections like HIV or hepatitis C, getting tested and treated early means better health outcomes and quality of life.

“We would like getting tested for STIs to be as normal as a dentist appointment or a skin check with a dermatologist. We hope that by offering this free service more people will take this important step in their health,” Wait said.

Chaffee County Public Health will assess demand and, if necessary, add additional days and times. Call 719-539-4510 to make an appointment for STI testing.

Free STI testing is also available through the Chaffee Community Clinic, which operates out of the Salida United Methodist Church parking lot, 228 E. Fourth St., from noon-4 p.m. Mondays and out of the Buena Vista Community Center, 715 E. Main St., from 1-4 p.m. Tuesdays. No appointment is needed at the Chaffee Community Clinic.

Emily Anderson is deputy director of Chaffee County Public Health.