Southern Nevada Health District to resume STD testing of inmates

The Southern Nevada Health District plans to restart its program offering sexually transmitted disease testing and education to Clark County Detention Center inmates this fall.

The district, which worked with local jails and their health care providers to provide STD testing, disease education and other services for about three decades, cut some of its offerings late last year due to funding and staffing issues.

NaphCare Inc., a contracted company that provides health care services for the Clark County Detention Center, filled the gap by offering all STD screening at the center, but thanks to a government grant, the health district says it hopes to have a five-person team providing at least some testing services by the end of September.

The team, funded by a Health Resources and Services Administration grant that will last up to three years, will consist of a doctor, a supervisor, a disease investigator specialist and two workers to do community outreach.

Plans are in the works to add a social worker and possibly two mental health workers in the future.

Marlo Tonge, communicable disease manager with the health district, said having staff routinely screening inmates again will give the district more immediate access to test results and affected inmates.

It will also allow the district to reach out to inmates’ sexual partners outside of the jail more quickly to encourage them to undergo testing, Tonge said.

“If I’m getting at those people quick, it affects how things get out into the community,” Tonge said.

Shifting some of the STD testing to the health district would mean less financial burden on the jail, which reimburses NaphCare, Las Vegas police detention services division Capt. Fred Meyer said.

When the detention center program was cut last year, the jail picked up the additional costs of the tests previously done by the health district, most of which were HIV screenings, he said. He added that he hopes this will mark a return of the health district’s involvement in other services, including offering medication.

While the health district hasn’t been providing testing and education services at the detention center, it has still been responsible for investigating STD cases and ensuring inmates receive treatment, Tonge said.

It also tracks down inmates who’ve been released while awaiting STD test results to inform them and their sexual partners of the results and refer them to care services, if necessary.

NaphCare is more focused on inmate care within the jail, Tonge said.

Contact Pashtana Usufzy at pusufzy@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @pashtana_u on Twitter.