The HIV Testing Sites & Care Services Locator Can Help You Serve Your Audience
May 24th, 2018 | viewpoint
HIV.gov readers know that getting people in your community tested and into care is an essential part of addressing the HIV epidemic. For program managers, it’s an ongoing job that requires a broad array of tools, knowledge, and skills. But wait, clients may want to confidentially learn about services when your organization is closed.
HIV.gov provides the HIV Testing Sites & Care Services Locator as a tool to help you serve your audience at all hours. With its location-based information, your site visitors can search at any time for federally funded testing services, housing providers, health centers, and other service providers.
How to Add the Locator to Your Site
- Go to www.hiv.gov/locator
- Choose the size Locator that’s best for your site.
- Highlight the code for the size you want.
- Copy and paste the code into the backend of your website.
More Reasons to Add the Locator
The Locator is self-maintaining and mobile-friendly. There’s no maintenance time; when there’s new data, the locator display automatically updates. As a trusted information source since 2010, the Locator let you serve your audience in and beyond your service area, without more staff. Wherever your clients are on the HIV care continuum, this tool can inform them about helpful services. Bonus: This tool supports your messages for National HIV Testing Day 2018.
“With the extremely effective HIV treatments available today, getting tested for the virus could literally save your life. It only takes one minute to find the closest place to get tested, and the map also shows where you can get treatment for mental health and substance use disorders.” – Dr. Steve Daviss, senior medical advisor in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
“Getting people to know their HIV status, to get in care, and to stay in care takes all the tools that health and social service organizations can offer. HIV.gov has worked with our federal partners to effectively display the service delivery information in each search on the Locator. Putting the Locator on your site will support your clients, and the people you may not yet be reaching, with a one-stop resource for taking care of their whole person. The Locator is currently on 1,100 websites and is typically added to about 50 new websites per month” – Cathy Thomas, HIV.gov Technical Director
This short video describes the easy steps for you to add the HIV.gov Locator to your website:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZOvbStinzI
