The rate of reported gonorrhea cases in Union County runs about 27% lower than the US average. If you've had a recent risk or test on a regular schedule, Garwood, New Jersey offers both community clinics and private labs. Community and public clinics are often low-cost or free, while private labs tend to offer faster results and more flexible scheduling. See the options below.
Available testing centers
9 testing options are listed for Garwood, NJ. The nearest, Quest Diagnostics, is about 1.5 miles away. Compare community and public clinics, private labs, and at-home kits below.
Listings tagged Community health center are federally funded health centers and rural clinics that treat everyone regardless of insurance or ability to pay: required to bill on a sliding fee scale and provide confidential care, and in many states minors may consent to their own STI testing. A Title X tag flags centers funded for confidential family-planning services; confirm current participation when you call.
Source: CMS FQHC & Rural Health Clinic enrollment files (data.cms.gov), refreshed quarterly. Title X status reflects the latest OPA grantee list.
Optum in Springfield Township folds STI care into a full-service medical practice, pairing the standard panel (HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes, hepatitis B and C) with same-visit bacterial treatment, sliding-scale fees, and Spanish-language care.
Many clinics handle Spanish through workarounds that sit outside the clinical encounter itself. At Optum, Spanish is a language of the visit: history, counseling, and treatment discussion conducted directly, without a layer between patient and provider. That continuity changes what can actually be said and understood.
Optum prescribes both Truvada and Descovy for PrEP, managing the required HIV testing and renal monitoring that the regimen demands on an ongoing basis. PEP is likewise available as a standing clinical service, not a one-time referral but a capability the practice maintains.
For someone managing hepatitis C without a specialist relationship, Optum's standing capability to prescribe and monitor direct-acting antiviral therapy is the difference between a diagnosis sitting on paper and a cure in reach. Testing, confirmation, and treatment are handled within the same practice.
Languages
English, Spanish
Tests offered
Serves
Care services
Prevention services
Fees & payment
Listing verified Nov 2025 · Source: CDC NPIN
Central Jersey Medical Center in Carteret earned its federally qualified status by committing to patients regardless of income: those paying cash, between providers, or facing gaps in coverage. Sliding-scale fees make syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia screening reachable for anyone who walks in.
Tests offered
Fees & payment
Hyacinth AIDS Foundation in North Plainfield delivers community health clinic-based STI screening (syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and HIV testing) with fees structured on a sliding scale tied to income, so out-of-pocket cost adjusts to what each patient can realistically pay.
Languages
English, Haitian Creole, Spanish
Tests offered
Serves
Prevention services
Fees & payment
Listing verified Dec 2025 · Source: CDC NPIN
Iris House in Plainfield tests for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and hepatitis C at no charge to anyone who walks through the door. Sliding-scale simply means zero here. Spanish-language care and an appointment-based model keep visits focused and unhurried.
Fee schedules, income verification, insurance checks. Many clinics build the cost question into the visit before the clinical one. Iris House doesn't. Every test, every counseling session, every self-test kit carries no charge, full stop, for everyone.
Iris House delivers care in Spanish as a standing clinical capability: counseling, test results, and medication adherence education conducted directly in the language, not routed through a secondary channel. For someone navigating HIV prevention or an unexpected result without a regular English-speaking provider, that directness changes the quality of every conversation.
Leaving Iris House without a hepatitis C result often means scheduling elsewhere, waiting on a referral, and letting a potentially active infection sit unconfirmed. Iris House tests for hepatitis C alongside HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, so nothing requires a follow-up trip to answer the question this visit already raised.
Languages
English, Spanish
Tests offered
Serves
Care services
Prevention services
Fees & payment
Listing verified May 2026 · Source: CDC NPIN
Planned Parenthood of Northern Central and Southern New Jersey in Elizabeth requires appointments and covers gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, herpes, and rapid HIV testing on a sliding-scale fee, with same-visit treatment for bacterial infections, HPV and hepatitis A and B vaccines, and PrEP and PEP on site.
PrEP at this location means a clinician prescribes the medication, tracks lab work, and schedules follow-up. The monitoring cycle that makes daily PrEP effective runs through the same staff. PEP is also available when prevention can't wait.
Many clinics handle minors' sexual health care the same way they handle adults', with parental disclosure as the default. As a Title X-funded site, Planned Parenthood of Northern Central and Southern New Jersey is legally required to keep services for minors confidential, a protection that goes beyond policy.
Plenty of clinics treat Spanish as an obstacle to work around after a patient arrives. At this Elizabeth location, Spanish is a direct care language, staff speak it, and broader interpretation services extend that access across other languages as well.
Languages
English, Interpretation Services Available for Non-English Languages, Spanish
Tests offered
Serves
Care services
Prevention services
Fees & payment
Listing verified Jan 2026 · Source: CDC NPIN
Free tool · not a clinic
Testing too soon can miss an infection. Enter the date of possible exposure to see the earliest a test can reliably detect each STI.
| Infection | Earliest reliable test | Conclusive after |
|---|---|---|
| Chlamydia | 7 days after exposure | 14 days after exposure |
| Gonorrhea | 7 days after exposure | 14 days after exposure |
| Trichomoniasis | 7 days after exposure | 28 days after exposure |
| HIV (NAT / RNA) | 10 days after exposure | 33 days after exposure |
| HIV (4th-gen Ag/Ab) | 18 days after exposure | 45 days after exposure |
| HIV (antibody) | 21 days after exposure | 84 days after exposure |
| Syphilis | 21 days after exposure | 42 days after exposure |
| Hepatitis B | 21 days after exposure | 42 days after exposure |
| Hepatitis C | 56 days after exposure | 77 days after exposure |
| Herpes (HSV) | 28 days after exposure | 112 days after exposure |
Guidance only, confirm timing with a clinician. A negative result before the conclusive date may need a repeat test.
Typical out-of-pocket ranges by option, actual cost depends on which tests you need.
Public / community clinic
Free HIV testing is common
Private lab (self-pay)
Never billed to insurance
At-home kit
Mailed to your door, private
Doctor / urgent care
Often $0 preventive with insurance
No centers match those filters. Clear the service-type filter or the opening-hours filters to see every center.
Every other option
Beyond the dedicated testing centers above: at-home kits by mail, hospital labs certified for STI testing, local clinicians who can order a panel during a regular visit, pharmacies for self-test kits and prescriptions, and online PrEP & treatment.
Test from home
The nearest testing center is about 2 miles away; if you'd rather skip the trip, an at-home kit ships to Garwood, you collect the sample privately, and mail it back to a CLIA-certified lab. Results come online in days, with a clinician available if anything is positive. Same labs as a clinic, no waiting room, and you can read how accurate at-home STD tests are before you order.
Want a free option first? The CDC-supported TakeMeHome (opens in a new tab) program mails free at-home HIV self-test kits, and, in many areas, free STI kits, to your door, with no insurance or payment needed. The paid kits below add broader panels and faster turnaround.
In-home collection
$79 & up
Best for simplicity & support
$89 & up
Best value: single tests
$49 & up
Every kit uses CLIA-certified labs. At-home testing is for screening; a reactive result should be confirmed and treated by a clinician. Prices and panels shown are illustrative and change often, confirm current details on the provider's site.
Also in the area
Beyond the public testing sites above, these federally certified (CLIA) labs serve Union County, each lab's town is shown on its card below. Many test through a doctor's order or by appointment rather than walk-in, so call ahead to confirm STD/STI testing and availability before visiting.
1308 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ 07083
CMS-certified lab Accredited · College of American Pathologists
1 Diamond Hill Road, Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922
CMS-certified lab
1901 East Linden Avenue, Linden, NJ 07036
CMS-certified lab Accredited · College of American Pathologists
Source: CMS CLIA registry (Provider of Services), Q1 2026. Federal public records: active CLIA-certified laboratories near Garwood. A CLIA certificate records only that a laboratory is federally certified — it does not confirm the site performs STD testing, nor its hours, price or access. Inclusion is not an endorsement; always call to verify.
Local clinicians
Beyond dedicated clinics, 10,521 primary-care, OB-GYN, infectious-disease and other clinicians have a CMS practice record within 30 miles of Garwood. They may be able to evaluate symptoms or order a confidential STD panel during a regular visit, and 3,818 offer telehealth.
Jalpa Patel, MD
Internal medicine · 300 South Avenue, Garwood
John Yavorsky, DO
Internal medicine · 91 Ctr Street, Garwood
Heghine Zalinyan, MD
OB-GYN · 19 Holly Street, Cranford
Alissa Kaye, MD
OB-GYN · 31 South Union Avenue, Cranford
Rachel Shur, MD Telehealth
Internal medicine · 324 South Avenue East, Westfield
Allarice Linaac, MD Telehealth
Internal medicine · 142 Central Avenue, Westfield
These are registry-listed clinicians, not dedicated STD-testing clinics. CMS records do not independently verify current licensure, testing services, availability, price, or new-patient status. Confirm each detail before booking. Source: CMS Doctors & Clinicians.
Nearby pharmacies
No pharmacy near Garwood, NJ publishes an STD-related service or holds a current CLIA testing certificate, so these are simply the closest. Contact a location directly to confirm counter hours, services, prices, and availability before visiting.
0.7 mi Barron's Drugs
1.0 miBell's Pharmacy
1.1 mi
1.1 mi 
1.6 mi Shoprite Pharmacy 163
1.6 miShowing the 6 closest pharmacies to Garwood, NJ.
Directory records identify nearby pharmacies. Service, stock, price, and hours information is shown only when supported by current location-specific evidence.
Prevention & treatment
Testing is one step. For residents of Garwood, telehealth covers the rest: HIV-prevention medication (PrEP) and DoxyPEP to lower future risk, and discreet online treatment if a result comes back positive. All prescribed by licensed U.S. clinicians.
Visit from $39
Online STI treatment & DoxyPEP: same-day prescriptions to your pharmacy
From $0 insured
Telehealth PrEP & DoxyPEP with at-home testing and ongoing monitoring
Visit from $0 insured
Telehealth STI treatment and sexual-health care, delivered or to your pharmacy
$0 with most insurance
Free online PrEP & DoxyPEP: HIV prevention, home lab kits, no in-person visit
Pricing varies by insurance and changes often, confirm on the provider's site. These services are not a substitute for emergency care.
STD stats & rates
How reported STI rates in Union County, the county that includes Garwood, compare with New Jersey and U.S. averages, based on the most recent 2023 surveillance data. An estimated ~24% of residents are aged 15–34 (ACS), the age group with the highest reported chlamydia and gonorrhea rates nationally.
#8 of 21 New Jersey counties for chlamydia, a higher rate than 62% of the state
| Infection | Union County | New Jersey | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chlamydia | 452.7 2,593 cases ▲ 18% | 384.1 | 492.2 |
| Gonorrhea | 131.8 755 cases ▲ 21% | 109.1 | 179.5 |
| Syphilis (P&S) | 10.1 58 cases ▲ 25% | 8.1 | 15.8 |
| Syphilis (early) | 10.5 60 cases ▲ 1% | 10.4 | 16 |
| Syphilis (late/unknown) | 19 109 cases ▲ 19% | 16 | 29.5 |
Rates per 100,000 population, 2023. Source: CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus (county, state & U.S., all-ages basis). Population figures: U.S. Census Bureau ACS. These figures are the latest available surveillance estimates. Bars are scaled to the highest rate shown.
Reading these numbers: reported case rates only count infections that were actually tested for and diagnosed, so they track local screening effort as much as true spread: a higher rate can reflect more testing, a lower one less. Either way, most STIs cause no symptoms, so treat the figures above as context rather than a verdict, and test on the CDC's schedule regardless of how your area looks.
Between 2020 and 2023 in Union County, chlamydia has risen from 395.8 to 452.7 per 100,000 (14%), gonorrhea has risen from 116.5 to 131.8 per 100,000 (13%), and P&S syphilis has fallen from 11.8 to 10.1 per 100,000 (14%).
The 2020 dip reflects reduced pandemic-era screening, not lower transmission. Source: CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus (county, state & U.S., all-ages basis).
Community health context
Sources: CDC PLACES (ZIP), County Health Rankings, CDC/ATSDR SVI, HRSA HPSA, HRSA MUA/P, Neighborhood Atlas ADI. Lower insurance coverage, fewer routine checkups, and a thin primary-care ratio all raise the value of low-cost public clinics and at-home testing in Union County.
Local HIV snapshot
Union County HIV care continuum (2023)
Union County recorded 18.6 new HIV diagnoses per 100,000 (2023), against 11.9 statewide and 13.7 nationally. Among Union County residents living with HIV, 68.8% are in care · 62.6% are virally suppressed. Early, routine testing is what moves these numbers: it is the entry point to PrEP, treatment, and viral suppression.
Sources: AIDSVu (Emory/Gilead) · CDC AHEAD · CDC AtlasPlus · CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus (county care continuum). The CDC recommends everyone aged 13–64 test for HIV at least once: every lab and clinic listed above offers HIV testing, and free rapid HIV testing is available at a local health department.
Congenital syphilis, passed from parent to baby in pregnancy, is the fastest-rising STI in the country. U.S. cases climbed from 2,163 in 2020 to 3,882 in 2023. It is almost entirely preventable: the CDC recommends a syphilis test at the first prenatal visit, and every clinic and lab listed for Union County tests for syphilis.
Source: CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus, 2023 (county-level congenital syphilis is not published).
Local resources & officials
Data & references
Local context
Park Village draws a notably mixed crowd, longtime owners who've held their homes for decades alongside renters absorbing rents that leave little slack in a monthly budget. With nearly three-quarters of residents in the labor force, most households here are built around full schedules: commutes down the GSP, shifts that start early, evenings already claimed by family obligations in homes that average more than three people. That daily compression matters for younger adults still sorting out relationships and routines, people in their late teens and twenties who account for a meaningful slice of Garwood's population and for whom Union County's STI rates are most directly relevant. m.
and not free until after dark, a test that requires navigating to a distant office during narrow daytime hours is a test that quietly doesn't happen. The range of options listed on this page addresses both. Whether someone in Park Village needs a sliding-scale fee, a same-day appointment, or a location reachable off NJ 28 without a full afternoon cleared, listings here span enough variation in hours, cost, and distance that one of them fits a real week in Garwood.
Getting there
Garwood scores 13.11/20 on the EPA walkability index, so many trips are walkable or a short ride, though a car still gives you the widest choice of testing centers.
Source: EPA National Walkability Index 2021.
Garwood sits in Union County, ZIP 7027. Local context that shapes where residents test:
Local landmarks
Neighborhoods & communities
Major routes
Nearby cities & towns
Just outside Garwood? These nearby communities have their own testing guides: clinics, at-home kits, and free screening close to home.
Reference
Everything to know before you test in Union County: the CDC's screening guidelines, each infection's detection window, per-test reference prices, and your privacy rights under New Jersey law. If you have symptoms right now, our confidential symptom checker maps them to the tests worth considering.
Based on current CDC screening recommendations.
| Group | Tests | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone aged 13–64 | HIV | At least once |
| Sexually active women under 25 | Chlamydia, gonorrhea | Every year |
| Women 25+ with new or multiple partners | Chlamydia, gonorrhea | Every year |
| Pregnant people | HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B & C, chlamydia | Early in pregnancy |
| Gay & bisexual men (MSM) | Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV | Every 3–6 months |
| Anyone who shares injection equipment | HIV, hepatitis B & C | At least yearly |
| All adults at least once | Hepatitis C | At least once |
Testing too early can return a false negative, confirm timing with a Garwood-area provider.
| Infection | Earliest reliable test | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| Chlamydia | 1–2 weeks | Urine or swab |
| Gonorrhea | 1–2 weeks | Urine or swab |
| Trichomoniasis | 1–4 weeks | Urine or swab |
| HIV (NAT / RNA) | 10–33 days | Blood |
| HIV (4th-gen Ag/Ab) | 18–45 days | Blood |
| HIV (antibody) | 3–12 weeks | Blood / oral |
| Syphilis | 3–6 weeks | Blood |
| Hepatitis B | 3–6 weeks | Blood |
| Hepatitis C | 8–11 weeks | Blood |
| Herpes (HSV) | 4–16 weeks (antibody); swab a sore | Blood / swab |
These are the federal Medicare reference prices for processing each lab test. Public clinics and the community health centers serving Garwood often test free or on a sliding scale; private labs and at-home kits bundle several tests into one fee. Use this as a per-test benchmark before you pay out of pocket, or see the full guide to STD test costs for insurance, free, and at-home options.
| Test | Reference price | CPT / HCPCS |
|---|---|---|
| Chlamydia (NAAT) | $47.80 | 87491 |
| Gonorrhea (NAAT) | $47.80 | 87591 |
| Trichomoniasis (NAAT) | $47.76 | 87661 |
| HIV-1/2 antigen/antibody | $26.87 | 87389 |
| HIV-1/2 antibody | $22.44 | 86703 |
| Syphilis (RPR/VDRL) | $5.61 | 86592 |
| Syphilis (treponemal antibody) | $17.49 | 86780 |
| Herpes (HSV NAAT) | $47.76 | 87529 |
| Hepatitis B surface antigen | $15.33 | 87340 |
| Hepatitis C antibody | $29.16 | 86803 |
Source: Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, CMS, 2025 rates (data.cms.gov). Reference rate for the lab assay only: a clinic visit, sample collection, or a bundled multi-test panel may cost more. Medicaid and most insurers cover STD screening at no out-of-pocket cost.
Two things that actually depend on New Jersey law: who can consent, and whether partners can be treated without their own visit. Everything else about testing privately is the same nationwide (see below).
In New Jersey, a minor can consent to confidential STI testing and treatment at any age, and to HIV testing at age 13 or older; a provider may notify a parent, and must do so where sexual assault is involved.
New Jersey permits Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT): if you test positive for chlamydia or gonorrhea, your provider can give you medication (or a prescription) to pass to your partner, no separate exam or appointment needed for them.
Keeping a test private works the same in every state. Whether an STD test shows on insurance (the EOB), how to test anonymously, and self-pay options that leave no insurance trail don’t change by location.
Learn more about confidential STD testing in New JerseySource: Guttmacher Institute, Minors' Access to STI Services; CDC, Legal Status of Expedited Partner Therapy. General information, not legal advice.
Good to Know
Answers to the questions people ask most before getting tested.
There are 9 options within a 30-mile drive.
Usually yes, it can be billed to insurance, or paid out of pocket at a flat rate.
Public clinics serve people without insurance, often on a sliding scale.
A full panel typically covers chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV, and hepatitis B and C.
Union County reported ~453 chlamydia cases per 100,000 in 2023, above the New Jersey average.
Yes, PrEP, a daily pill that helps prevent HIV in HIV-negative people, is available in the area.
In New Jersey, people under 18 can consent to confidential STD testing and treatment on their own.
Most results are ready in about 1–2 days.
Get treated, notify partners, pause sex until cleared, and follow up, the infection is manageable.
Reassuring if you tested after the window, just retest if it was early, and screen again with new partners.
Have a different question? Browse the full STD & STI FAQ library, every question we answer, in one place.