STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
By Liam Verster
Free STI Testing

Northreach offering STI testing on June 29

Jun 28, 2021 | 8:14 AM

Northreach Society in Grande Prairie is offering free sexually transmitted disease (STI) tests on Tuesday, June 29.

Northreach had planned to offer free HIV tests as part of National HIV Testing Day (June 27), but seeing as the day fell on Sunday, Northreach decided to expand on it and offer testing of all STIs during a one-day campaign.

The most recent data for STI rates in Alberta and in the North Zone, which is from 2019, shows chlamydia and gonorrhea being the more prevalent STIs in the North Zone. These STIs are most common among young people under the age of 25, and in most cases co-occur.

However, there has also been increasing rates of syphilis throughout Alberta, including in the North, which Lindsay Loset, Sexually Transmitted and Blood Born Illness (STBBI) and Community Based Health Program Manager for Northreach, says is very concerning.

“[Syphilis] is a pretty important one to watch out for, especially because as women have syphilis, they can pass it on to their baby if they’re pregnant, and congenital syphilis is really not a good thing to pass on to a fetus or a baby because it can cause birth defects and lots of health problems in that baby as their born.”

Along with testing for chlamydia , gonorrhea and syphilis , Northreach also tests for Hepatitis C and HIV.

Loset says it’s important to get tested and identify the infections, because many of them can be treated through medication.

“Syphilis [can be treated] with an antibiotic, typically through an antibiotic injection into your thigh. Different stages, because there’s different stages in syphilis, might require a little bit different treatment, but it is also curable, which is a good thing.

“HIV isn’t curable but it can be treated with medication, and then Hepatitis C is curable with oral medication as well.”

While HIV can’t be cured, it can be treated down to a level where it’s no longer transmittable .

Gonorrhea and chlamydia can also be cured through antibiotic medications.

Along with offering the tests, Northreach is trying to break the stigma surround STIs and testing.

“We’re doing what we typically do: providing as much education as we can and encouraging people to get tested. In that education piece: letting people know that if they do have a diagnosis of an STI, what they can do about it moving forward; reminding people that STIs are really common and it doesn’t mean anything bad about the person if they have an STI, kind of like getting a cold or the flu or something like that. You will potentially have an infection and learn how to deal with it and not pass it on to someone else, so we’re encouraging that responsibility too.”

Northreach is also running it’s educational campaign through social media posts that speak about STIs and what to do about them.

Loset also encourages people to get tested when they have a new sexual partner and after having unprotected sex, as well as making testing a part of a regular health care routine.

“I think that goes with de-stigmatizing it too, it’s just part of taking care of your health, it’s not anything to be ashamed of it’s just another thing that we have to watch out for and deal with in the best way that we can.”

Northreach Society is following provincial COVID mandates during the testing day, which runs from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29. Loset asks that people book appointments in advance by calling 780-538-3388, though does say some walk-ins may be tested during the less busy times of the day if possible.

by Liam Verster