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On February 26, 2010, the MISTER Program at Positive Impact began providing in-house sexually transmitted infection/disease (STI/STD) screenings for syphilis, gonorrhea and Chlamydia for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM), thanks to a generous grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2011, with the amazing assistance of the states' STD Director, Michelle Allen, the agency was selected to be an official STD test site for the state of Georgia. In April 2011, Dr. Dennis Melton, a physician Board Certified in both Infectious Disease and Internal Medicine with a medical practice at the Atlanta Medical Center, just a few blocks from the agency, joined MISTER with the generous gift of his time to provide treatment for clients who receive a positive screening result.
Men who receive STI/STD screenings at MISTER that end with a positive result for gonorrhea or Chlamydia and who qualify financially will receive free treatment in the clinic. If the individual has private medical insurance or has an annual income in excess of $25,000, he will be referred to Dr. Melton for treatment at his office rather than in the Men’s STD Clinic at MISTER. If preferred, anyone with medical insurance or financial ability to pay for treatment may opt to access treatment with any physician or clinic of their choice and are not required to receive treatment at the MISTER Men’s STD Clinic or at Dr. Melton’s office.
Free STI/STD screenings for gonorrhea and Chlamydia for gay, bisexual and other MSM are offered at 60 Eleventh Street NE, Atlanta, GA, 30309 Monday through Thursday from 10 AM to 7 PM, Fridays from 10 AM to 5 PM, and Saturdays from 10 AM to 2 PM. This screening (gonorrhea and Chlamydia) requires only a small urine sample for testing.
Free STI/STD screenings for syphilis have been suspended effective immediately. There is currently not a phlebotomist on staff to draw blood, which is the sample required to screen for syphilis. It is hoped that this screening can resume in the fall of 2011, but for the next several months only screenings for gonorrhea and Chlamydia can be performed.
Additionally, if you have what you believe to be ACTIVE symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection, please go to your doctor or to the public health department IMMEDIATELY for testing and treatment. Doctor’s offices and the health departments can test you and treat you the same day; at MISTER, we send the samples to a laboratory for processing and you will not get your results back for up to 7 to 10 business days, and you should not go that long with active symptoms! If you are not sure if your symptoms are an STI/STD, one of our prevention specialists can help answer your questions. Please just give us a call and ask to speak to a Prevention Specialist in the MISTER STD Clinic.
If you are presenting to MISTER’s HIV Testing Center and are identified to have an STD risk factor during that visit, you will receive an automatic referral to the Men’s STD Clinic for testing and possibly treatment. Likewise, if you present to the Men’s STD Clinic for screening and are identified to have some HIV exposure risks, you will be referred to the HIV Testing Center for a rapid HIV test. Most individuals who feel they need an HIV test likely need STD screenings, and vice versa.
If you present to the MISTER Men’s STD Clinic for screening, you will need to read and sign an informed consent giving us permission to test you for gonorrhea and/or Chlamydia. These are the only tests we perform; we do not currently screen for syphilis, nor do we perform any screenings for hepatitis, TB or other infections, and do not offer any vaccinations for hepatitis. We also are unable to offer treatment for any STDs that were not identified in this clinic. In other words, we cannot offer you treatment without first testing you and waiting the 7 to 10 days for your results. If you show up with active symptoms of an STD, we will have to refer you out for medical treatment. You will also be asked to fill out some personal information about yourself before meeting with the Prevention Specialist. Once you have completed this brief document, the Prevention Specialist will meet with you to go over your information, perhaps ask a few additional questions for clarification, and then offer to answer any questions you might have about sexually transmitted infections.
To test for gonorrhea and Chlamydia, we will need a small amount of urine. The samples are delivered to a laboratory for processing, which takes anywhere from 7 to 10 business days to get back your results. Once test results are back, you will be called at the telephone number you provide to notify you of the results. Unlike HIV results, we CAN give you your STD results over the telephone. Your results will only be given to you, and will not be left in a voicemail. The staff member calling with your results must speak to you directly.
If all tests are negative, the staff might make recommendations for keeping yourself healthy. If any of the tests are positive, the Prevention Specialist will work with you to get you medical care that is fast, convenient and meets your personal needs, whether that is here in the MISTER Men’s STD Clinic, Dr. Melton’s office, another medical provider or the public health department. One of the goals of MISTER staff is to ensure that all clients who test positive on any STD test will get the medical treatment they need, ideally within one to three days of receiving your results.
SPECIAL NOTE: The Prevention Specialist will inform you during your visit that should one of your STD tests return positive, that information is required by law to be reported to the health department in the county in which you live. A representative of the health department in your county will then contact you to ensure that you were able to receive medical treatment for your condition. This is a public health effort to stop the continued spread of STDs. If you have not obtained medical treatment or refused medical treatment at the Men’s STD Clinic, the health department will assist you in getting medical treatment. As well, the health department may offer to anonymously notify on your behalf any sex partners you have had to let them know they might have been exposed to an STD (but will not reveal anything about you or how they might have been exposed), in an effort to encourage them to get tested for the same STI/STD.
REMEMBER! If you get treated for an STD but don’t have all your sex partners treated, and you then again engage in sex with those same partners or with someone those partners have had sex with, you run the risk of getting re-infected with the same STD! Who wants that?
MISTER is located at 60 Eleventh Street, between Peachtree and West Peachtree Streets. Parking is free or if taking public transportation, MISTER is located only one block north of the Midtown MARTA station.
For more information about STD screening you may speak to any of our Prevention Specialists on staff at the MISTER Center. If you have management questions or concerns, you can contact the Prevention Director, Danny Sprouse, at 404.589.9040 or write him at danny.sprouse@positiveimpact-atl.org. For regular updates on events, workshops or volunteer information subscribe to our newsletter.
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