GYT: Get Yourself Tested
If you are sexually active, getting tested for STDs is one of the most important things you can do to protect your health! Have an open and honest conversation with your doctor about your sexual history and STD testing. This will help them understand what STD tests you may need.
Locations, Appointments & Financial
Dowagiac
- HIV Clinic / STD Clinic: Thursdays 9-11 am and 1-4 pm
- Location information and map
Lawrence
- HIV Clinic / STD Clinic: Wednesdays 9-11 am and 1-4 pm
- Location information and map
Appointments are needed. However appointments at other times can be arranged upon request for certain special needs.
Financial: $10.00 Service fee. No one will be denied services if unable to pay.
To keep up with the latest information about COVID-19 in Michigan go to www.michigan.gov/coronavirus
The STD clinic offers:
Confidential Counseling, Testing, Referrals and Treatment for
- Gonorrhea*
- Chlamydia*
- Syphilis
*Urine screening available
Counseling, Testing and Referrals for
- Hepatitis B and C (High Risk Populations)
- HIV*
*Rapid (20 minute) results available
Counseling and Referrals for
- Herpes
- Genital Warts (HPV)
The STD clinic also offers a high-risk Hepatitis B Program. Those qualifying for the program can receive immunization free of charge. This program is in addition to the immunization services available through our immunization clinics.
The HIV clinic offers:
Rapid or Confidential blood testing available by Appointment
- In June and in December the HIV clinic participates with HIV Awareness Week and World AIDS Day providing confidential or anonymous no needle testing free of charge.
"World AIDS Day"
"Free Testing Here"
Click to learn more about LINK-UP Van Buren/Cass Data to Care Initiative
Which STD Tests Should I Get?
- All adults and adolescents from ages 13 to 64 should be tested at least once for HIV.
- All sexually active women younger than 25 years should be tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia every year. Women 25 years and older with risk factors such as new or multiple sex partners or a sex partner who has an STD should also be tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia every year.
- All pregnant women should be tested for syphilis, HIV, and hepatitis B starting early in pregnancy. At-risk pregnant women should also be tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea starting early in pregnancy. Testing should be repeated as needed to protect the health of mothers and their infants.
- All sexually active gay and bisexual men should be tested at least once a year for syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. Those who have multiple or anonymous partners should be tested more frequently for STDs (i.e., at 3- to 6-month intervals).
- Sexually active gay and bisexual men may benefit from more frequent HIV testing (e.g., every 3 to 6 months).
- Anyone who has unsafe sex or shares injection drug equipment should get tested for HIV at least once a year.
HIV Treatment as Prevention
People with HIV should take medicine to treat HIV as soon as possible. HIV medicine is called antiretroviral therapy, or ART. If taken as prescribed, HIV medicine reduces the amount of HIV in the body (viral load) to a very low level, which keeps the immune system working and prevents illness. This is called viral suppression—defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood. HIV medicine can even make the viral load so low that a test can’t detect it. This is called an undetectable viral load.
Getting and keeping an undetectable viral load* is the best thing people with HIV can do to stay healthy. Another benefit of reducing the amount of virus in the body is that it helps prevent transmission to others through sex or syringe sharing, and from mother to child during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. This is sometimes referred to as treatment as prevention. There is strong evidence about treatment as prevention for some of the ways HIV can be transmitted, but more research is needed for other ways.
Click HERE For more HIV Treatment as Prevention information from the CDC
Resources & Important Information
MDHHS Statistics for STD or HIV in your county
Michigan HIV & STD Law Update Summary - April 1, 2019 A series of HIV and STD related laws were enacted in December 2018. Providers click here for key facts you should know about these changes.
To learn more about HIV and see if you are at risk, go to www.aids.gov to take the HIV 101 lesson. Click on Basic HIV/AIDS information.
For the latest information on STD guidelines and treatment, click here. Once at the site, do a search for the information need
HIPAA Privacy Rule & Public Health links: