Event Held for New Truck Offering Free HIV Testing

Most doctors won’t make house calls, but Neva Chauppette is an exception. She not only comes to patients, she carts her entire office with her--in a 40-foot-long truck.

The specially equipped truck is one of five that offer free HIV tests and counseling at drug and alcohol abuse centers throughout Los Angeles County under a $1.1-million federal grant.

The $138,000 truck rolled off the assembly line in time for Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony in North Hollywood. But even before it arrived, Chauppette and her staff of four counselors had already tested about 1,290 recovering alcoholics and drug addicts in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. Seven of the tests were positive.

The gleaming white truck with teal and peach racing stripes will make it even easier to perform the blood tests because it is so well-equipped, Chauppette said.

“This program is a significant step forward in the fight against AIDS,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman as he cut the ribbon.

The truck contains all the accouterments of a stationary testing clinic--a tiny waiting room, examination area, fax machine and cellular phone. But it differs in one important respect: Test results will be ready in three days instead of the usual two weeks.

“It’s critical with this population so they don’t relapse and start using again out of anxiety over whether they have AIDS,” Chauppette said.

Drug users and alcoholics are considered at greater risk for AIDS than the general population not only because some of them have used contaminated needles, but because they frequently engage in unsafe sex, either to obtain drugs or because their inhibitions are lower when they are under the influence, Chauppette said. The need for tests is so high that a second, smaller mobile clinic has been ordered solely to serve the far-flung Antelope Valley.

The current grant targets only those enrolled in treatment programs and their primary sex partners, partly because they are easier to reach than active substance abusers, Chauppette said.

County officials, who administer the federal grant, hope to get permission this summer from the federal government to expand the program to include visits to public parks and street corners where active drug users congregate. About 10% of active substance abusers are infected with the HIV virus compared to about 5% of those in treatment, said John Schunhoff, director of the county’s AIDS programs.

Some members of the mobile van staff are recovering from drug addictions and alcohol dependency themselves, including Leonard Dootson of Van Nuys. Sober for five years, Dootson said he can identify with clients.

“It’s one addict working with another,” Dootson said. “I really have my heart in this--it’s so needed.”

The service has been well-received in the chemical dependency community.

“Our clients are in denial about AIDS, and this makes it so much easier to get them tested,” said Millicent Nicholas, program director for the Center for Counseling and Education, a Tarzana private nonprofit facility that provides court-ordered treatment programs for convicted drunk drivers. “The staff is professional, very matter-of-fact and kind and sympathetic at the same time.”

The mobile clinic’s only fault may be its size, which makes it difficult to maneuver and park, Chauppette said. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, she presented a plaque to the company that generously donated a parking space for the over-sized van.

“It’s such an L.A. moment,” said Tom Clay, chief of AIDS programs for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. “Only in L.A. would a parking space be honored.”