MOORPARK : College Initiates HIV Testing Clinic

About 20 students rolled up their sleeves Monday for Moorpark College’s first free HIV testing clinic.

“I’ve never done this before,” said student John T. Campbell as the nurse sank a needle into his arm and drew blood. “I’m finally doing it because I think everybody should get tested.”

During a question period before the testing, students voiced concerns about recognizing and transmitting acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

“Can you tell if someone has AIDS by the way they look?” one student asked.

No, said Robin Kirsch, who works for the county’s HIV outreach task force. “That’s why you need to get tested.”

Another wanted to know if two condoms are safer than one.

“Right now we’re just trying to get everyone who is having sex to use one condom, and use it properly,” Kirsch said. “If we could do that, we would all be a lot safer.”

Sharon Manakas, coordinator of Moorpark’s student health program, said she organized the forum and testing after she was approached by several students requesting the service.

“There’s a real concern about AIDS on campus,” Manakas said. “We’re doing what we can to address that.”

Manakas said she is not sure when AIDS testing will be offered again on campus, because there are no funds for an ongoing program. Information about testing sites is available at the school’s health clinic, along with condoms and pamphlets on AIDS and the human immunodeficiency virus that causes it.

Moorpark is the last of the county’s three community colleges to offer HIV testing on campus.

Last month, county public health services began offering free AIDS testing twice a month at Oxnard College. Ventura College provides testing by appointment.

Representatives from the three colleges formed a task force last fall to try to come up with an AIDS policy, due out in late June.

The policy will include directives on AIDS prevention, education, discrimination and off-campus testing referrals, said Shirley Keyster, student health nurse at Oxnard College and co-chairwoman of the task force.