Mobile van offers
free HIV testing
PHOTO BY DAVID NAGER/ALLIANCE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE
Services at the mobile van include help
finding health insurance and free condoms
BY GABE HERMAN
Local nonprofi t Alliance for Positive Change,
which provides health services, has launched a
campaign called “Alliance on the Move,” which
brings a mobile van to different neighborhoods for
free tests and services.
The bus primarily serves high-need areas in Manhattan,
including the Lower East Side, Hell’s Kitchen,
Greenwich Village, Washington Heights as well as
East and Central Harlem. Starting in August, it has
come to the West Village every Thursday from 4 to 9
p.m., at Christopher and Weehawken Streets.
The nonprofi t was founded in 1990 during the
height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic to help New Yorkers
fi nd care and support. The organization remains
focused on fi ghting HIV and AIDS, but has broadened
its scope to include other health issues.
The van’s staff offers free counseling and testing
for HIV and Hepatitis C.
People can also get screened for other sexually
transmitted diseases, get free condoms and receive
help in fi nding health insurance. Syringe exchange
and naloxone training programs for people affected
by the opioid crisis are also available, in partnership
with the nonprofi t’s Harm Reduction Center on the
Lower East Side.
“The beauty of the van is it’s our strategy of taking
harm reduction services out into the community
and going where people are,” said Alliance Executive
Director and CEO Sharen Duke. “We make it easy
and accessible.”
Mobile Unit Coordinator Phillip Bermudez said the
van’s outreach goals seem to be working and helping
to spread the word about the services the nonprofi
t offers. It can be imposing for people to go into
a building for services, he said, and the mobile unit
bridges that gap.
The Alliance for Positive Change serves over 6,000
people overall at its six offi ce locations in Manhattan
and the Bronx, including administering more than
1,200 free HIV tests. The Alliance reaches another
15,000 people through peer education and other
community outreach programs.
The West Village location is near the West Side
Highway and was chosen because a lot of young
people walk by on their way to Hudson River Park,
according to Guy Williams, the Alliance’s associate
director of prevention.
More information can be found at alliance.nyc.
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