UAMS 12th Street Health & Wellness Center to Provide Health Screenings Nov. 30 for World AIDS Day

By Ben Boulden

The center will provide free HIV testing. The testing will be available without needles using a mouth swab. People also are invited to receive free health checks for blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose as well as general physical examinations. Test results will be available at the event.

Representatives of ARCare, LINQ for Life and student organizations will be on hand for the event. A private, nonprofit organization, ARCare provides affordable primary and dental care at 27 locations in Arkansas with a focus on patient, community and employee health. Linq for Life, also a nonprofit organization, works to educate and increase awareness about HIV and AIDS.

“The students, faculty and volunteers of the center are eager to improve even further on our World AIDS Day efforts last year and again bring HIV testing to our patients while raising public awareness of HIV and AIDS,” said Lanita White, Pharm.D., director of the UAMS 12th Street Health & Wellness Center. “This event gives us a chance to reach out to this underserved community. According to the Arkansas Department of Health, more than several thousand Arkansans are living with HIV/AIDS but only half of those actually are receiving care for it.”

For more information, visit www.Healthon12th.uams.edu or call the UAMS 12th Street Health & Wellness Center at (501) 614-2492.

The 12th Street Health & Wellness Center is a free clinic run by students under supervision of faculty and other licensed volunteers. It provides students from the UAMS Colleges of Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Public Health and the Graduate School an avenue to learn about, from and with each other in an interprofessional center. The center focuses on education, prevention and management of chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. It also provides information about healthy living, preventive care, consultations and screenings for residents of the Little Rock Promise Neighborhood and surrounding areas.

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; hospital; northwest Arkansas regional campus; statewide network of regional centers; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Myeloma Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and Translational Research Institute. It is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 2,834 students, 822 medical residents and six dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses throughout the state, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or www.uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.