AIDS Group to Offer Free HIV Testing

Hands United Together will offer free, anonymous HIV testing Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Delano Park.

Blood tests and oral swatches will be administered in a mobile trailer provided by Drew Mobile Testing. Results will be delivered to Delano Park on July 31.

People concerned they may be at risk should be tested, said Lamar Johnson, president of Hands United Together, a nonprofit group that started in 1993.

Johnson, who has AIDS, said people should not let fear keep them from being tested.

“To know is better than not knowing,” he said. “It makes so much sense because if you don’t know, you can’t help yourself. But if you have information about your life condition, you have a better chance of living with the disease instead of dying from it.”

Hands United Together is dedicated to HIV/AIDS education, prevention and services in the San Fernando Valley.

Johnson stressed that people at highest risk of contracting HIV are in the age groups 15 to 24 and 41 to 55. HIV and AIDS also are spreading at an alarming rate among people of color, Johnson said.

“In Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley Latino female population is at the highest risk for having HIV at this time,” he said.

However, the HIV epidemic leaves no demographic untouched, Johnson said.

“Get tested,” he said. “If not, encourage other people to be tested.”

Delano Park is at 15100 Erwin St. For information, call (877) 864-3864.