An enduring question in public health work is, how do we reach people who are hard to reach?
It's wonderful that Allies has the following we do, that so many people make getting tested with Allies a part of their regular health routine. But who are we missing?
We have the capacity to test more people and to offer more hours of testing each week. The outreach team is currently in the process of identifying new community partners to establish new testing locations and ways to inform people that testing is available and why it's important.
We offer testing weekly(opens in a new tab) in the South Side - Unity Recovery and Pittsburgh Action Against Rape - and in East Liberty at Allies. At the South Side sites, we see new clients at each location but we have the capacity to see more. Our Sunday testing fills up quickly, but we've added an additional tester (Crystal McKee) which will allow us to see more clients.
It isn't only about increasing the traffic at existing sites. We have the capacity to add weekly testing sites on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. We're reaching out to businesses, community groups, and organizations by email, phone, and pounding the pavement.
Dear reader, if you would like to contribute to this work in some way - pointing us in the direction of an organization seeking free testing, posting flyers in your business, etc - please email Anitra Branch at abranch@alliespgh.org(opens in a new tab). Let's work together!
