Fighting HIV/STDs

All of our HIV/STD services are available in English and Spanish. For more information or to schedule an appointment for any of our HIV/STD services listed below, call (631) 665-2300 for Long Island and (718) 514-2155 for Queens. Todos nuestros servicios de VIH/ITS están disponibles en Español. Si prefiere hacer una cita con un consejero que hable espanol por favor llame al (631) 665- 2300 (Long Island) o (718) 514-2155 (Queens) y pida hablar con un miembro del equipo de VIH. HIV/STD/Hepatitis C Testing LGBT Network provides FREE, Discreet, and Confidential testing for HIV, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, Chlamydia, and Gonorrhea. Our free testing services are delivered in several convenient ways throughout Long Island and Queens: Drop-In Hours: We offer extended testing drop-in hours at all of our community centers. See below for days and hours at each center and just come on by. By Appointment*: If our extended drop-in hours do not work for your schedule, give us a call and we will set up an appointment at a time that works for you. For Long Island, call (631) 665-2300. For Queens, call (718) 514-2155. We Come to You!*: If you are unable to travel to us, we can come to you. Our discreet mobile testing van is outfitted to facilitate testing for HIV and Hepatitis C. All you have to do is give us a call and we will meet you at a location of your choice. For Long Island, call (631) 665-2300. Find Us On Social Networking Apps: Look for our profile and hit us up on many of the social networking apps. Through the app, we can set up a time for you to come to one of our centers or for us to come out to you for mobile testing. Meet Us in The Community: We provide mobile testing at community venues such as colleges, bars and clubs, health fairs, and other community events. Look for our Mobile Testing vans and fabulous Outreach & Testing Staff at a community event near you. * En Espanol: Si prefiere hacer una cita con un consejero que hable espanol por favor llame al (631) 665- 2300 (Long Island) o (718) 514-2155 (Queens) y pida hablar con un miembro del equipo de VIH Drop-in testing location: Drop-in hours: LGBT Network Hauppauge Center 125 Kennedy Drive, Suite 100 Hauppauge, NY 11788 Every Monday and Wednesday 2 pm – 8 pm Every Tuesday and Thursday 10 am – 2 pm Every Friday 10 am – 8 pm Hamptons LGBT Center 44 Union St. Sag Harbor, NY 11963 2nd & 4th Tuesdays 5 pm – 8 pm Queens LGBT Center (Q-Center) 37-18 Northern Blvd., Suite 107 Long Island City, NY 11101 Every Tuesday and Thursday 4 pm – 7 pm

 

HIV Navigation Services

Our HIV/STD Testing Services go beyond conducting a test. Whether you test positive or negative, we offer individualized and continued support.

• For anyone who tests positive (for HIV or an STD), we offer individualized support in linking you to medical treatment and other support services. We help you obtain timely, essential, and appropriate HIV-related medical and support services to optimize your health. Navigation services include identifying and reducing barriers to care, delivering health education that is tailored for each person’s needs and health literacy, linking to a medical provider, assisting with health insurance, ADAP enrollment, free transportation and appointment accompaniment, early intervention services, linkage to ongoing case management, and/or any additional support services such as mental health and substance use services and our POZ Experience Support Group for people living with HIV.
• For anyone who tests negative, we offer support to help you remain negative, such as linking you to PrEP Services, prevention education, one of our evidence-based prevention interventions, mental health or substance use treatment, and other prevention and support services.

PrEP and PEP Support Services

PreP-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Services – Our PrEP Support Services increases awareness about PrEP, the daily pill that reduces the risk of acquiring HIV, through individual conversations and social media campaigns. We also connect those who are interested to PrEP providers. Our PrEP Support Services include:

• Conducting a risk assessment to screen for PrEP eligibility
• Providing individualized PrEP education
• Helping to assess and develop PrEP readiness, including developing an action plan to identify and overcome potential barriers to taking the daily pill
• Assisting with applying for the PrEP Patient Assistance Program (PrEP-AP) to assist with the cost of health care and lab costs associated with PrEP
• Linking eligible and interested individuals to a PrEP prescriber

Post-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) Services – If someone believes they have been exposed to HIV, PEP is a course of time-limited medication treatment which, if taken within 72 hours of possible exposure, may prevent HIV. We can help individuals who may have been recently exposed to HIV access PEP by linking them to care immediately.

Free Transportation & Appointment Accompaniment

To reduce barriers to accessing care, LGBT Network’s robust transportation program offers free van transportation to initial appointments for HIV/STD medical care and PrEP/PEP services. Upon request, staff are also available to accompany individuals to these medical appointments.

Health Insurance Enrollment Assistance

NYS Certified Application Counselors (CACs) and Testing Specialists assist with health system navigation and health insurance enrollment, including private insurance plans, Medicaid, and Child Health Plus. We also help with other health-related financial assistance programs such AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and PrEP Assistance Program (PrEP-AP).

Early Intervention Services

LGBT Network’s Early Intervention Services (EIS) Program provides support to people who recently learned of their positive HIV status as well as people who have been living with HIV and have fallen out of care. EIS services include:

• Individualized support to assist with overcoming barriers to accessing medical care such as transportation, health insurance, language barriers, etc.
• Assistance with completing ADAP applications and other health insurance applications
• Linkage to HIV medical care, including finding a local, inclusive, and affirming medical provider and assistance with scheduling appointments
• Free van transportation and appointment accompaniment to up to the first 3 medical appointments
• Tailored HIV health education that is culturally and linguistically appropriate
• Linkage to ongoing medical case management

HIV+ Support – POZ Experience

POZ Experience is a support group for LGBT people living with HIV, regardless of whether someone has been newly diagnosed or living with HIV for many years. POZ Experience fosters peer support and builds community in an LGBT-affirming space that promotes living one’s life to the fullest and healthiest. This group offers an opportunity to meet others with similar experiences, get support, and learn from each other. 2nd & 4th Tuesday of the month, 6:30-7:30pm Hauppauge LGBT Center  

Partner Services

We offer a broad array of services to people who test positive for HIV/STDs and their partners. When someone learns of their positive status, we help connect them to ways to confidentially notify their partners of a possible exposure. We also offer testing and support services to all identified previous and current partners. Our partner services are free, confidential, and voluntary.

Substance Use Support – Project TORCH

Project TORCH (Testing, Outreach, Recovery & Care for Health) provides support and linkage to care services for individuals who inject drugs and others struggling with addiction or drug or alcohol use issues. We provide individualized support and linkage to care services, including:

• Targeted street and community outreach and engagement
• Referral and linkage to substance use treatment, harm reduction support, medical treatment, wound care, and other needed services
• Free transportation to initial medical and substance abuse treatment appointments
• Appointment Accompaniment
• Harm reduction and health education
• Distribution of harm reduction kits and safer sex kits
• Mobile HIV/STD/Hepatitis C testing and linkage to care

Project TORCH also offers a Peer Program that offers part-time employment for people with lived experience with substance use and/or addiction to serve as Peer Outreach Workers. Peer Outreach Workers engage their friends, social networks, and other community members struggling with addiction to promote available services and connect them with a Linkage-to-Care Coordinator.

HIV Prevention Interventions

LGBT Network offers a variety of CDC-approved evidence-based interventions and/or high impact prevention strategies for people living with HIV and/or at-risk for HIV. These interventions offer prevention education and effective strategies to help stop HIV. Some of the many interventions we offer include:

• Testing Together (TT) for two or more people who are in – or planning to be in – a sexual relationship and would like to receive HIV testing services together, including receiving their results together. TT helps facilitate communication among partners.
• Sin Buscar Excusas / No Excuses for Latino gay and bisexual men. This small group, video-based intervention facilitates group discussion to increase safer sex practices and HIV testing among Latino gay and bisexual men.
• Peers Reaching Out and Modeling Intervention Strategies (PROMISE) for transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary (TGNCNB) people. PROMISE recruits and trains TGNCNB community members to share their personal stories about how and why they took steps to reduce risk and/or engage in HIV care. As they share their stories with their friends, they serve as role models and peer advocates to help stop HIV.
• Personalized Cognitive Counseling (PCC) for people who test often because of high risk or possible exposure to HIV. PCC helps identify thoughts and feelings during high risk behaviors to help participants reduce risk in future situations.
• Anti-Retroviral Treatment and Access to Services (ARTAS) for persons newly diagnosed with HIV to help link them to medical care soon after receiving their positive test result. ARTAS encourages the individual to identify their own strengths, set goals, and empower them to achieve those goals.
• Popular Opinion Leader (POL) for youth at risk for HIV. POL identifies and trains young leaders to have safer sex conversations with their peers in order to encourage safer sexual norms and behaviors among their social networks of friends.

To learn more or to participate in one of these programs, call (631) 665-2300 for Long Island and (718) 514-2155 for Queens.

Safer Sex Kits

We provide free and discrete safer sex kits that include condoms, lubricant, condom use instructions, and information cards about accessing testing, prevention, and related support services. Upon request, we can also provide specialty condoms such as magnums and snugger fits, internal condoms, dental dams, and flavored condoms. Free safer sex kits are available at all of our LGBT Community Centers, during testing appointments, and at community outreach events.