“We haven’t had the opportunity to do this in the past. We’re using a special fund this year that is a donor-initiated fund for services. And so we’re able to offer free testing this week. and we’re doing it in honor of world AIDS day which was December 1st as a way to continue to remind our patients and the public that knowing your status is the best prevention for HIV.”
“We are offering both the oral test as well as the blood draw. The advantage to the oral test is that you’re basically just taking a swab of your gums. And we can give you the results of your test within 20 minutes and it doesn’t involve any needles.”
“The state rolled in right away and did some investigation and was able to isolate and tested many partners and as far as I know that outbreak has been contained. But I think that’s the issue with small communities and with rural populations and the small populations in Alaska is if you have one positive person you have situations where you have people sharing needles if its intravenous drug use or people having multiple anonymous sex partners, it’s very easy to transmit HIV.”
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
