stlmomsworld.com - Kay Quinn

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Local Children's Hospital To Offer Free HIV Screening

Teens and young adults make up the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the country, including HIV.
That's one of the reasons St. Louis Children's Hospital is beginning a new policy by the end of the month.
Patients 15 and older admitted to the emergency room will be offered a free HIV screening test.
And it will also be confidential.
Their parent or guardian will be asked to step out of the room before the nurse asks the teen if they want the test.
"The goal isn't to keep the diagnosis a secret from the parent," Dr. Ericka Hayes, co-medical director of the pediatric HIV and pediatric infectious disease department at St. Louis Children's Hospital. "The goal is to get them tested and once we do have that diagnosis have the teen disclose to their parents or the person who is a support person to help them get through."
By instituting this policy, Children's Hospital becomes the third hospital in the country and the first pediatric hospital nationally to make the move.
But some family-based organizations call the policy outrageous.
"I think its a real violation of parents rights and parental responsibility for the health and care of their children," says Peter Sprigg, vice president for police at the Family Research Council based in Washington DC. "Certainly I think both parts of the policy are inappropriate; to offer the testing without the parents knowledge and to keep the results secret from the parents both of those are a violation of parental rights."
But one local young man who is HIV positive says many teens will only consent to the test if it is confidential.
"I just think that this is really great," says Arthur, 19, who learned he was HIV positive in his mid-teens. "Because there's some teens who know that they're being involved in risky sexual behavior that won't get tested knowing that they should just because their parents are present."
I'll have more on the policy and both the public health argument supporting it and the family value group that opposes it tonight on Cover Story on Newschannel Five at 10.
Here's a link to the Children's Hospital web site explaining the new policy
http://www.stlouischildrens.org/tabid/91/itemid/5067/Universal-HIV-Testing-to-Begin-in-SLCH-EU.aspx

¶ 3:19 PM

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Name: Kay Quinn

Location: St. Louis, MO

ABOUT ME

Health and medical issues make up one of the most exciting beats in the newsroom. Few other areas of news touch each and every one of us so closely and so often.

Whether you're a senior worried about paying for prescription drugs, a parent concerned about the health of a child or waging your own fight against cancer or heart disease, you can usually find health news that applies to you in my daily reports.

I always tell St. Louisans they are so fortunate when it comes to health care. Our city is home to two research hospitals.

Doctors and scientists at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis University School of Medicine are involved in some of the most critical research underway in medicine today.

Work is bring done right at this moment, right in our area, that could lead to a vaccine for bird flu or better ways to diagnose and treat Alzheimer's disease.

I enjoy staying on top of those stories, as well as bringing you health and medical news you can use.

Along with the latest medical breakthroughs, you'll frequently find information on low-cost exercise programs right around the corner from where you live, or details on where to get this year's flu shot.

Many viewers want to know whether I have a medical background. I don't, but my mother was a nurse and I know her health background made a big impression on me as a child.

It's the lifelong curiosity and interest I have in health issues that serves me well in my work as health reporter.

Staying on top of what you need to know to stay fit and healthy is a job I love.