Bessemer pharmacy offers free HIV tests Thursday

Free HIV tests will be offered in Bessemer Thursday as part of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

The tests will be offered at FMS Pharmacy downtown from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

They are part of a new testing initiative to be administered by FMS and the Community Pharmacy Residency Program at Samford University.

A grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will cover the cost of 200 tests, and FMS will continue to offer free HIV screenings every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until the CDC grant is used.

Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley is scheduled to speak at the event Thursday at 10 a.m.

"It's so important that people be tested," Gulley said in a news release. "Thanks to today's treatments, HIV isn't an automatic death sentence. But you're not going to get those life-saving treatments if you don't know you need them."

Script Your Future, a national public awareness campaign about the importance of patients taking their medications regularly, is working with FMS and Samford in the HIV testing initiative.

"People who don't take their medicine are endangering their health, and that's especially true with HIV," said Patrick Devereux, FMS managing pharmacist.

According toDevereux, FMS would like to continue to offer HIV screenings even after the money from the CDC grant is gone. "We are committed to offering a low-cost option for people to continue to get tested," he said today.

In addition to offering HIV screenings, FMS will offer free medication reviews Thursday from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

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Bessemer pharmacy offers free HIV tests Thursday