University students Jonathan Livingston and Renee Yandel have been selected to help run two new HIV Alliance programs that will reach out to more Lane County residents who are considered at-risk for contracting HIV.
Yandel, who is coordinating a pilot project called HIV Prevention Case Management, said she and six other volunteers will be providing counseling services to people they meet during the HIV Alliance needle exchanges, various outreach programs and testing services.
“Right now, we only get to talk to people for about three minutes when they take part in one of our programs,” Yandel said. “This is a great opportunity for us to spend more time with our at-risk clients.”
Those who fall in an at-risk category for HIV include everyone from injection drug users to youth and people of color, said HIV Alliance spokeswoman Leslie Habetler.
Lane County is one of three counties throughout Oregon to receive a portion of a $50,000 grant to conduct the HIV Prevention Case Management, Habetler said.
Livingston, who also works for Gay-Bi Outreach, will be helping with the HIV Counseling and Testing Services. This program will allow for anonymous or confidential youth testing in various locations throughout Lane County.
“It’s very difficult to get tested when there is so much stigma surrounding HIV,” Livingston said. “We’re providing a comfortable place for at-risk youth to be tested.”

Kelly Moore, who will be coordinating the counseling program, said people who were previously tested are not among those who fall into the at-risk category. Those who do fall into the category have a lack of trust, she said.
“We decided to go to them,” Moore said. “We have to go to where we can reach people.”
Similar to the Prevention Case Management, the Counseling and Testing Services will only be for people who are referred through the other HIV Alliance programs.
“This is not just a way to get results on who has HIV,” Moore said. “It’s also so we can do prevention.”
But that lack of trust is still there, she said, especially now that the government is requiring the names of all Oregon residents who test positive for HIV. But there is a way around it.
“People have a choice between anonymous and confidential testing,” Moore said. “We have to take part in the law, but if clients test anonymously, then their names won’t be reported.”
The program has already successfully tested more than 40 people at two different locations since it began Aug. 11.
“This is the best way to reach people,” Livingston, who was hired to test youth because he is young himself, said. “Doctors may be judgmental, but here everyone is person-centered. We want to help.”
HIV Alliance has received several grants to conduct testing and prevention programs, which will continue throughout the year, Habetler said.