FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.–AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has begun a 14 day cross-state HIV Mobile Testing Tour throughout Florida.

Launching from Pensacola in the Northwest and Key West in the Southeast, AHF’s new Magic Johnson “Test Florida” HIV mobile testing unit and Positive Healthcare mobile medical clinic will make their way through Florida and reunite on Sunday, March 28th at Huizenga Plaza in Fort Lauderdale for the 2010 Florida AIDS Walk where free HIV testing and counseling services will be available to walkers, volunteers, and attendees.

With the goal of providing free, easy-to-access rapid HIV testing in regions throughout Florida, the tour seeks to identify HIV positive individuals who are unaware of their status and link them to lifesaving care.

AHF’s Florida Testing Tour is utilizing a full service mobile medical clinic for the North Florida Testing Tour and a brand new 3-room mobile HIV testing unit for the South Florida Testing Tour. AHF’s new mobile testing unit was a gift to the organization from the proceeds raised by the dedicated walkers and volunteers who participated in the 2009 Florida AIDS Walk.

The new Magic Johnson “Test Florida” mobile testing unit is named in honor of and in partnership with basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Jr. and is the newest addition to AHF’s fleet of 10 mobile testing units, operating primarily in Florida and California.

The Northern Tour launched in Pensacola on March 12th and the Southern Tour launches today from Key West. Staffed with testing counselors and an outreach team, the mobile testing units offer testing, counseling, and linkage into care at a local HIV provider. The results for HIV tests are available in only 20 minutes and provide 99.7% accuracy.

In the two weeks prior to the Walk through the month of March, the two AHF mobile units will host testing events at shopping centers, churches, beaches and nightclubs in 15 cities: Pensacola, Panama City, Quincy, Tallahassee, Lake City, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Orlando, Daytona, Key West, Marathon, Tampa, Homestead, Miami and Fort Lauderdale prior to arriving for the Florida AIDS Walk on March 28th.

“The AHF/Magic Johnson Testing Unit has a very unique connection to Florida, as it was paid for with funds raised by the walkers at last year’s Florida AIDS Walk,” said James Vellequette, AHF Prevention and Testing Manager for the Southern Bureau, “Together, participants in last year’s Walk were able to raise over $366,000 for HIV care, testing, and prevention programs, which, has enabled AHF to launch this important HIV testing and outreach program in Florida.”

At the conclusion of the tour, the Positive Healthcare mobile medical clinic will return home to Pensacola where AHF provides local medical services as well as outreach and treatment to rural communities across greater Escambia County. The new Magic Johnson “Test Florida” mobile testing unit will be based in South Florida where it will provide free HIV testing services on a regular daily testing schedule as well as supporting special community outreach events.

AHF’s ‘Testing Florida’ tour is part of a nation-wide effort to raise local and national awareness about the importance—and ease—of HIV testing and to challenge attitudes about moving toward a streamlined model of HIV testing and counseling nationwide. In addition to the Florida Testing Tour, AIDS Healthcare Foundation is also in the midst of its ambitious cross-country, 48-state testing tour, the AHF/Magic Johnson ‘Testing America’ Tour, where a single testing unit is making its way through the continental United States providing free, quick and easy tests to thousands of individuals. The Test America Tour is currently traveling across the Southern States and then north to New York where it will test in all five boroughs before it reaches the half-way point on its year-long journey on National HIV Testing Day (June 27th) in Manhattan.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation operates these mobile testing units right in the heart of the community – in parking lots of crowded retail stores, next to nightclubs, and at church events. AHF provides the testing, counseling and results all in one session, so there is no stressful waiting time. Last year alone, AHF conducted over 235,000 HIV tests worldwide. It is important that people learn how to avoid becoming infected with HIV; or if they are infected, know their HIV status, and seek medical treatment, if needed. These HIV testing vans provide that opportunity for free in a friendly, no hassle way.

In Florida, AIDS Healthcare Foundation serves more than 15,000 people living with HIV/AIDS through a variety of programs, including Positive Healthcare (a statewide disease management program), Positive Healthcare Managed Care, testing and prevention programs, healthcare centers in Jacksonville, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, and AHF Pharmacies. AHF’s Out of the Closet Thrift Stores in Wilton Manors and Miami at Biscayne and 29th offers free HIV testing and treatment referral through an AHF Pharmacy built adjacent to the store.