HIV Resource Center is expanding its hours to accommodate people on the South Coast who want to be tested for HIV infection.

The effort is in observance of National HIV Testing Day on Tuesday, June 27.

The organization is trying to reach people who have injected drugs, partners of people who have injected drugs, men who have sex with men and partners of people who are HIV-positive. In addition, the Resource Center is encouraging sexually active young people and those who have had multiple partners to get tested.

“It's anonymous and now we're doing the 20-minute test,” said Mary Murphy, the outreach coordinator for the Roseburg-based Resource Center.

Murphy stops at South Coast communities once per month to offer the testing. The test utilizes a mouth swab that is designed to detect HIV antibodies - the body's immune response to the disease.

“There's a three-month window-period. If somebody got tested today and put themselves (at-risk) a month ago, then they need to get tested again,” she said.

The only way for a person to know whether he or she is infected is to get tested, since a person with HIV might appear healthy for years. This year, Murphy is stressing the importance for young people to stop in at the test sites.

“It has nothing to do with being gay or a drug addict. It has to do with young people having unprotected sex,” Murphy said. “This is not the biggest population group, but the fastest-growing group.”

The testing is free at the following locations:

€ Coos Bay: 4 to 6 p.m., South Coast Hospice Bereavement Center, 1610 Thompson Road;

€ Reedsport: 5 to 7 p.m., Family Resource Center, No. 5, St. John's Way;

€ Bandon: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Southern Coos Specialty Clinic, 913 S.E. 11th St.;

€ Port Orford: 4 to 6 p.m., Curry County Health Depart-ment, 1403 U.S. Highway 101;

€ Gold Beach: 1 to 3 p.m., Curry County Health Depart-ment, 94235 Moore St.; and

€ Brookings: 10 a.m. to noon, Curry County Health Department, 425 Mill Beach Road.