Getting Tested

Locations and hours:

If you have a health card:

Onyx Urgent Care
Phone: 519-896-6699 between 8am-11pm all week
Website: www.onyxurgentcare.com

Your nearest walk-in clinic should offer appointments to receive a lab requisition for a local lab or Waterloo Public Health’s Sexual Health clinic (appointment-based). If you have a primary health provider and are comfortable talking STI testing with them they can also give you a lab requisition.

If you are attending a local university or college, please check in with your health services.

If you do not have a health card:

Call ACCKWA at 519-570-3687 for a referral to the Healthcare Hub

HIV self-testing program called I’m Ready
A national research program that registered participants (18 years of age and older), can order up to 3 free HIV self-test kits for delivery or to pick-up at a participation pickup location (such as ACCKWA). To access you will need a smart phone and Wi-Fi or data in order to download the program’s mobile app so that you can formally register, which involves completing anonymous surveys, and to access the peer navigation support available to you before, during or after you self-test for HIV.
Text or call Ben & Fabian at ACCKWA at 519-634-2437 or emailing m2m@acckwa.com.

If you test positive for an STI, you are not alone. Do not accept any shame or blame feelings from anyone - STIs are extremely common, it’s just that nobody talks about them because of stigma (which just creates more stigma). It might take a while to process your feelings: you might be in denial, feel angry, feel hurt or disappointed, you might feel scared or ashamed. All of those feelings are normal. Please trust us when we say that we encounter so many people who have felt the same way once they learned they had an STI. Many STIs can be cured, and the rest can be treated so that you can still have fun, safer sex.

Text us anonymously at 519-569-9521 if you have any questions about going for testing, symptoms that are worrying you, or for tips on how to disclose to partner(s) about an STI.