Montgomery County’s free clinic for treating sexually transmitted diseases takes reservations at 8 a.m. for the next day’s appointments. On many days, the 27 slots are filled 15 minutes later.
Roughly 300 people who call for an appointment are turned away each month, according to county records, though the clinic’s nurse administrator, Barbara Davis, said that number may include some who call the clinic multiple times.
The number of people being tested and treated at the Silver Spring clinic rose by 29 percent from 2005 to 2008, while the county’s population grew by about 2 percent.
The number of cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis doubled in the county from 2005 to 2007, according to Maryland data.
The increase is because of “an expansion of screening and improved sensitivity of tests and reporting, rather than an actual increase in disease,” Montgomery Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Mary Anderson wrote in an e-mail.
She said the increase in people seeking help at the clinic was likely from a combination of more people being aware of the clinic’s existence and people looking for low-cost services in tough economic times.
Patients who can’t be accommodated by the clinic are referred to services that charge for testing and treatment or the emergency room, depending on the person’s needs, Davis said.
Private STD testing services can charge up to $700 for tests.
The Montgomery County Council in its new budget approved spending an extra $100,000 for the STD clinic, which is at 2000 Dennis Ave.
Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg, D-at large, pushed for the money and said it would be used to hire an extra nurse practitioner and possibly a new satellite office farther north.
Trachtenberg, who has convened a group to study women’s health issues, said most of the people seeking the free STD testing and treatment were low-income minority women.
Almost all of the county’s population growth from 2005 to 2008 can be attributed to rising minority populations, according to census data. The percentage of Hispanics in the county grew by almost 11 percent, while the African-American population grew by 5 percent and the Asian population grew by 7 percent.
Trachtenberg said many of the women seeking help at the clinic are showing up in the county’s hospitals when their illnesses go untreated.
Spokesmen for neighboring counties said there had been no reports of people being turned away for free STD testing at their county-run clinics.
SEEKING HELP
Number of people seeking STD testing and treatment at Montgomery County’s free clinic:
2005 3,233
2006 3,619
2007 3,843
2008 4,170
