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What are the three ways people find their way to testing in California?
The most common place that confidential testing occurs is in a doctors office or hospital. In these situations HIV testing is usually done routinely, as a part of other testing or healthcare services you may receive. HIV testing is also commonly called for before surgery or as a routine part of pre-birth screening. In these situations you must give permission for HIV testing to be performed before the testing is performed and you will probably not receive any test counseling or health education.
Confidential test sites, whose primary business is HIV testing, are also available. At confidential test sites you may receive some health education and counseling before and after your test and you may have copies of your test results if you request them.
Anonymous Test
Sites
Anonymous or "alternative"
test sites may offer only HIV testing but are usually part of other health
service centers. With anonymous testing you always receive pre- and
post-test counseling and your name, or other identifying information is
never on your test.
Community Health
Outreach Workers
Community Health
Outreach Workers, or CHOWS, offer the third and final way that HIV testing
is performed in California. CHOWs work on the street with high risk people
including injection drug users, prostitutes, people who have been incarcerated
and others who are at very high risk for HIV. Not all CHOWs do HIV testing,
many do not. But some do, and all CHOWs educate and give referrals for
various services, including HIV testing.
The State Office
of AIDS
What is the State
Office of AIDS?
The State Office
or AIDS is a branch of the California Prevention Service division of the
California Department of Health Services which is a branch of the Health
and Human Services Agency. The Health and Human Services Agency administers
state and federal programs for health care, social services, public assistance,
job training and rehabilitation.
What are the branches
of the State Office of AIDS?
The State Office of AIDS is divided into
four divisions: HIV/AIDS Epidemiology; HIV Education and Prevention Services,
HIV Care and the Administration and Clerical Support Sections. Each division
is responsible for a different aspect of HIV/AIDS prevention and service.
The HIV Education and Prevention Services division of the Office of AIDS is further divided into four sections: 1) HIV Community Prevention; 2) HIV Counseling, Testing and Training; 3) HIV Prevention Policy and Program Development; and 4) HIV Prevention Research and Evaluation.
It is the HIV Counseling, Testing and Training branch which oversees HIV testing and oversaw the creation of the new HIV5 testing form.
Who is in charge
of the State Office of AIDS?
The person in charge
of the Office of AIDS is called the "Chief". The current Chief of the California
Office of AIDS is Michael Montgomery. The chief of the HIV Education
and Prevention Services Branch at the Office of AIDS is Harold Rasmussen.
What branch of
the Office of AIDS created the new form?
The HIV Prevention
Research and Evaluation section of the HIV Education and Prevention Services
Section has been the section in charge of creating most of new forms for
HIV testing in California including the HIV5 form.
Who was in charge
of creating this form?
Steve Truax, the
man in charge of the HIV Prevention Research and Evaluation section
of the HIV Education and Prevention Services Section is the person in charge
of creating this form.
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Other Health Jurisdictions
and CHOWs
What is a health
jurisdiction?
Health jurisdictions
(sometimes erroneously called "county health departments") administer and
manage funding from the California Department of Health Services and State
Office of AIDS. In California every county and a few cities (Berkeley,
Long Beach, and Pasadena) are designated "health jurisdictions". Almost
all of these health jurisdictions get their funding from the state,. except
San Francisco . San Francisco Department of Public Health is a model agency
that has long been on the cutting edge of the HIV epidemic and it gets
its money in part from the state and in part directly from the federal
government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The
reasons for this are complex and have to do with San Francisco's progressive
approach to public health, and their aggressive commitment to research
and fund-raising.
As a result San Francisco is a "special case" that will be talked about in detail below. Another "special case" is that of Community Health Outreach Workers (CHOWS).
Most regular health jurisdictions have their own, smaller, Office of AIDS. If they do not have a specific AIDS office, they have a division of communicable diseases which administers the State Office of AIDS guidelines and funding.
Who runs health
jurisdictions?
Health jurisdictions
have are modeled on the California Department of Health Services and have
their own chiefs. These chiefs can be hired or appointed by the local government.
The chiefs are in charge of hiring other personnel who are city or county
employees.
Where can I find
out more information about my local health jurisdiction?
To find out where
you can reach your local health jurisdiction click here.
Tell me about
San Francisco Department of Health Services. Are they collecting this information?
As a "special case"
San Francisco has a separate testing protocol including it's own HIV testing
form. HIV testing in the city and county of San Francisco originate from
two separate places the: University of California San Francisco' s AIDS
Health Project (AHP) and the San Francisco Department of Health Services
(SF-DPH).
SF-DPH also released a new form asking for even more information than the State's form. The SF from asks for the first letter of the person's last name, the last letter of their last name, and the number of letters of their last name in addition to their birth date, zip code, and other demographic information such as ethnicity and gender.
However most HIV testing in San Francisco is performed through the AIDS Health Project. Although AHP does utilize SF-DPH's testing form they have declined to collect most of this information. Instead AHP is collecting a set of information for unique identification of each person that does not include their full date of birth or their first initial.
What about Community
Health Outreach Workers (CHOWs), who are they and are they collecting this
information?
Community Health Outreach Workers (CHOWS)
are a specially designated group of health educators who work on the streets
in California's communities with the people who are most at risk for HIV
including injection drug users, prostitutes, people who have been in jail,
homeless people, and undocumented workers.
CHOWs are specially trained to perform a variety of health education outreach including HIV testing, dispensing condoms, dispensing educational materials, and other vital work. CHOWs are being asked to collect the same information that is found on San Francisco form including 1st and last letters of people's last names, the number of letters of their last name, their full dates of birth and their ZIP code.
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