AVOL Executive Director Jon Parker said Wellness Wednesday was created as AVOL’s one-stop shop for sexual health resources.
“So, HIV testing, STI testing, and we have a nurse practitioner on site who can write treatment prescriptions,” said Parker. “She can prescribe PrEP for people who would like the medication that prevents HIV.”
Parker has worked at AVOL for 11 years and has been involved in HIV prevention work since the early 1990s. PrEP, which is 99% effective at preventing HIV, first became available as a once-daily pill in 2012. Earlier this year, an injectable form of the drug was approved which requires only two doses a year.
“We’re really at the forefront of some major medical technology that we didn't see in 1993,” said Parker. “We lost a lot of lives in those days because the technology hadn't advanced. We're just happy now to honor their memory and be able to do something about it moving forward.”
AVOL is open to walk-ins Monday through Friday, and the tests and resources offered on Wellness Wednesday are available other days as well. What makes Wednesdays different, though, is the presence of a nurse practitioner and a Spanish language interpreter on-site.
“We don't have the ability - because we're a tiny agency - to be a one-stop shop all the time,” said Parker. “But, we were like, why can’t we build it small and know that on Wednesdays from 1 to 5 is when you can get most of your needs met here?”
Ariel Norvell, AVOL’s director of health outreach services, says the organization typically uses live phone translation to communicate results with non-English-speaking patients.
“It’s better than nothing,” said Norvell, “but it’s different when you’re talking about sexual health and having to translate things through the phone. It feels very disconnected and impersonal.”
Norvell hopes that having an in-house Spanish translator on Wellness Wednesdays will make the experience more comfortable.
“Having somebody who can look the person in the eye and deliver their results in a way they can understand makes all the difference,” said Norvell. “They can ask questions that they may not have felt comfortable asking through an intermediary translator. It lets us provide the best care that we can.”
Wellness Wednesdays are open to anyone for free, with no appointment required, at 1824 Hill Rise Drive, Lexington.
