District residents are getting free HIV tests at an unlikely place: their local DMV.
At the Department of Motor Vehicles’ Penn Branch office in Southeast, more than 5,000 people have been screened and received results while they wait. The testing is part of a seperate health program that seeks to identify those living with HIV in order to get them early treatment and prevent the spread of the virus. The District has one of the highest percentages of cities nationwide of residents living with HIV or AIDS.
On Tuesday, Mayor Vincent Gray announced testing will also be offered at the Department of Human Services Anacostia Service Center located at 2100 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue S.E., in Ward 8. Roughly 20 people have already been tested.
“While District residents are seeking income support, food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits, residents will now be able to learn their HIV status as a routine part of their health and wellness,” Gray said in a statement.
The program launched last October and is run by the nonprofit Family and Medical Counseling Service Inc. The nonprofit received a $250,000 grant to do the original testing, according to the Associated Press. The expansion is funded though a similar grant.
