HIV & sexual health
Condoms, lubricant and self-test kits
On an open shelf, at the front, in reach. Nothing here requires a prescription, an appointment, or a sentence spoken out loud.
What will be on the shelf
- External and internal condoms, in a range of sizes
- Water-based and silicone-based lubricant
- Dental dams
- Gloves
- HIV self-test kits
- Pregnancy tests
- Emergency contraception, from the pharmacist
- Free supplies from Ontario programs, where available
Everything on that list except emergency contraception is on an open shelf you can walk to. You do not have to ask anyone for it, and nobody will comment.
Why that matters more than it sounds
Putting these behind a counter, or in a locked case, or in an aisle where you have to catch someone’s eye, is the reason people leave without them. The barrier is never the product and it is rarely the price — it is the two seconds of being looked at.
Size is the same problem in a different form. A condom that does not fit gets used badly or not at all, and the range that exists is much wider than most shelves stock.
Free supplies
Ontario distributes condoms and other supplies free through public health programs, and where we can carry them we will, on the open shelf with everything else. Free should not mean asking for the free ones.
Self-test kits
An HIV self-test lets you test at home, by yourself, without an appointment. For some people that is the difference between testing and not testing, which makes it worth stocking regardless of anything else.
It is a screening test, so a reactive result needs a confirmatory test — that is how the tests are designed rather than a failure of one. If that happens, the clinic upstairs does the follow-up without a referral, and the pharmacist will tell you exactly that rather than leaving you to work it out at home.
Timing
There is a window after an exposure during which any test can miss an infection, and it differs between tests. The kit states its own; a pharmacist can talk it through, and no number is published here because a wrong one could cause somebody to mis-time a test and trust the answer.
Common questions
Do I have to talk to anyone?
No. Open shelf, ordinary till. A pharmacist is available if you want one, in a private room if you would rather, and nobody will ask why.
Something just happened and I’m worried about HIV.
A self-test is the wrong tool for that. PEP has to start within 72 hours and the sooner the better — go to PEP now.
Do you have emergency contraception?
Yes. It sits with the pharmacist rather than on the shelf, and it does not need a prescription. Asking for it is a normal request and will be treated as one.
Kind Clinic on the second floor does testing that a self-test cannot, including the confirmatory testing after a reactive result. Kind Clinic and Kind Pharmacy are separate businesses under common ownership. You can fill your prescription anywhere.
Kind Clinic →