Philly AIDS Thrift to launch in-store HIV testing for National HIV Testing Day
Philly AIDS Thrift, the off-South Street nonprofit thrift shop famous for its philanthropic tendencies and kitschy garb, will soon feature Philly’s first in-store HIV testing center.
Philly AIDS Thrift, the off-South Street nonprofit thrift shop famous for its philanthropic tendencies and kitschy garb, will soon feature Philly's first in-store HIV testing center.
Dubbed the Philly AIDS Thrift HIV Testing Center, Philly AIDS Thrift hopes to open its testing center this Saturday, June 27 — National HIV Testing Day. The center will be located on the thrift store's second floor, and testing is performed free of charge.
Results reportedly will be immediate, and the Testing Center will also have certified counselors on site to administer the tests. Agencies providing the tests include Philadelphia FIGHT, GALAEI, ActionAIDS, Bebashi, and the Mazzoni Center.
Hours are currently listed as noon to 4 p.m. on the first and third weekend of every month, and the second and fourth Friday and Saturday.
The idea, of course, is to chip away at the shame of getting an HIV test, normalize the process and, as Philly AIDS Thrift's Christina Kallas-Saritsoglou puts it, "break stigmas" that testing faces.
"Putting a testing site in an area that doesn't typically have something like that is a way of normalizing testing," Kallas-Saritsoglou told Philadelphia Business Journal. "It's a way to break stigmas."
Currently, around 30,000 people in the Philadelphia area live with HIV.