Free HIV/STI Testing is provided through a collaboration with Hudson Valley Community Services (HVCS) on a monthly basis at The LOFT. Includes testing for HIV, Hepatitis C, Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, and Syphilis.
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Free HIV/STI Testing is conducted at The LOFT every 3rd Tuesday of month from 5:00pm-8:00pm by appointment only. Testing is fast, free, and discreet.
In collaboration with Hudson Valley Community Services (HVCS), free, in-person HIV & STI screening is back at The LOFT every 3rd Tuesday from 5:00pm-8:00pm.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic new procedures have been put into place to ensure the safety of you, LOFT and HVCS staff.
You must make an appointment, no drop-ins will be able to be screened that day.
Pre-screening and counseling will be done prior to the appointment by phone with an HVCS counselor.
You must answer a COVID-19 health
survey before you enter the center and have a thermal scan.
You must wear a face covering over your nose and mouth for the duration of the in-person appointment.
To start the process and make an appointment contact Jamel Gray at jgray@hudsonvalleycs.org or call (914)-785-8214.
If you are unable to visit The LOFT during the appointment period, additional appointments can be scheduled a different day and time either at The LOFT or an HVCS location. Contact HVCS to find out more.
Award-winning blogger, author, speaker and HIV/AIDS advocate
Mark S. King is an award-winning blogger, author, speaker and HIV/AIDS advocate who has been involved in HIV causes since testing positive in 1985. His blog, My Fabulous Disease, has been nominated for five consecutive GLAAD Media Awards (2015-2020) and was awarded the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association’s “Excellence in Blogging” honor in 2014 and 2016.
Venita Ray
Deputy Director @PWN-USA
Venita Ray is the deputy director of PWN-USA. She previously served on the organization’s Board of Directors and has more than 20 years of experience working in underserved communities on social justice issues including affordable housing, environmental justice, health care and HIV.
Charles Sanchez
HIV+ Writer, Performer, Director and Activist
Charles Sanchez is a gay, HIV+ writer, performer, director and activist living in New York City. He is one of the co-founders of Skipping Boyz Productions, and conceived, writes and stars in the musical comedy web series, Merce, which was named Best HIV/AIDS Content at America’s Rainbow Film Festival in 2016 and won the Audience Award for Short Film at the 2017 Kaleidoscope Film Festival.
This week, HVCS unveiled its new policy regarding HIV testing: we will mail an oral swab HIV test kit to your home! Watch the details as our Senior Program Manager, Naomi Kabalkin, explains things to Spectrum News reporter Dominic McKensie:
We are pleased to announce that the Peer Health Alliance has a new podcast all about safer sex, hooking up, and all sorts of fun topics.
“Parents Just Don’t Understand”…that’s why talking about sexual health with a PHA peer is so important. In this episode we talk about HVCS’ Peer Health Alliance or PHA program and what a “peer” is. Learn why it is important to get your difficult sexual health questions answered by someone like you, that gets you and has the training and resources to you need. There are some conversations you don’t want to have with even the coolest of moms!
Find more episodes here or listen on Spotify! and iTunes (other podcast platforms coming soon).
HVCS is collaborating with Walgreens in Poughkeepsie, located at 827 Dutchess Turnpike, for National HIV Testing Day (June 27th). Our team will be on site from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm for free confidential HIV testing, information on PrEP, as well as HIV prevention, care and treatment. We are partnering with Greater Than AIDS for this community event.
HVCS is collaborating with Walgreens in Poughkeepsie, located at 827 Dutchess Turnpike, for National HIV Testing Day. Our team will be on site for free confidential HIV testing, information on PrEP, as well as HIV prevention, care and treatment. We are partnering with Greater Than AIDS for this community event.
Got questions about the latest ways to reduce your risk for HIV, STDs and hepatitis C? So do lots of our followers. Members of our Education & Prevention Department went live on Facebook to answer them. In this video, we covered PrEP, PEP, how risky certain sexual behaviors are (or not), and how to reach our programs for more services!
Need free testing services? Contact us at (845) 704-7624 — you can call OR text! ? You can also email us to set up an appointment.
Sandy*, one of our clients in the Mid-Hudson region, is like a lot of people in her thirties: she was working several jobs to make ends meet, had no time to eat properly or exercise, had a few minor health problems that she ignored. She was definitely not focused on her health. That is, until she became HIV-positive.
She didn’t want to see a doctor about it, and was not on HIV medications at all. Our Health Home care manager Maria knew that Sandy needed a lot of emotional support and encouragement to start HIV treatment—and she also knew that Sandy’s health was in great danger if she continued to ignore her HIV-positive status. “I don’t have time for that. I’m too tired,” Sandy would say. Maria was extremely patient with Sandy and, after months of building trust, she eventually got Sandy to see that her health mattered. Sandy finally went to see an HIV specialist and got on treatment.
Thanks to her doctor and Maria, Sandy is now virally suppressed—with no detectable HIV in her blood—and is now connected to a whole host of health resources. Maria reports that Sandy is doing very well.
