In Preparation for National HIV Testing Day on Saturday, Norton to Visit Two Testing Events, Tomorrow

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will get tested and participate in two National HIV Testing Day (Saturday, June 27) events tomorrow, Friday, June 26, 2015, to encourage District of Columbia residents to get tested and to call attention to the D.C.'s success in reducing its HIV/AIDS rate. At 11:00 a.m., Norton will go to a HIV testing event at Whitman-Walker Health Max Robinson Center (2301 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE), hosted by Whitman-Walker Health, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, WHUR 96.3FM, and the Community Education Group. The event will offer free and confidential HIV testing from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., along with free music, entertainment and giveaways. Norton will then get tested again by Whitman-Walker Health professionals on Capitol Hill at 2:00 p.m. in the Rayburn Health Unit (B-344 Rayburn House Office Building). Whitman-Walker will be offering free and confidential testing at the Rayburn Health Unit from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

"The District has made great strides in combating our high HIV/AIDS rate in no small part because the District is making it easy to get tested and also because we were able to get Congress to repeal the ban on the city's needle exchange program," Norton said. "However, our rate is still larger than that of the states, and we need to do even more to encourage testing. Too many of our residents remain at high-risk. I am making it a point to demonstrate firsthand how quick and easy it is to get tested. I am particularly grateful to Whitman-Walker Health and others for providing free testing to D.C. residents."