Federal funding cuts aren't the only thing HIV/AIDS service providers across the state have to worry about this summer. With the decrease in funds comes a new set of regulations from the Center for Disease Control that limit the people eligible for free HIV, AIDS and STD testing to a few groups labeled as "high risk" by the government.

Those groups are: men who have sex with men, partners of HIV-positive people, intravenous drug users and people who are incarcerated, according to Lauren Handrahan, a former prevention educator at AIDS Response Seacoast.

Many of the people that come in for free testing don't fall into those groups, according to Handrahan. She said females ages 15-24 are the group with the highest rate of new infections.

"All that does is create this idea that 'If they're not going to test me, I must not be at risk,'" Handrahan said.

Because of the new restrictions, ARS was forced to cancel its Thursday night testing clinic and cannot administer tests to walk-ins. Handrahan has left her job at ARS, where she's worked since 2001, in part because of the new restrictions. She's moving to England to study how gender affects the spread of HIV in Rawanda.

"That's one of reasons why I quit," she said. "You can't look somebody in the eye and say, 'You don't qualify, we can't test you.'"

The Feminist Health Center in Greenland still offers free testing, but Handrahan said that men are reluctant to go there. Handrahan said funds for the part-time nurse who helped administer the tests at ARS were also cut.

Other new regulations include a move from anonymous test counseling to a confidential test system that includes a person's name, address and other identifying information, according to Rachel Rawlinson, a part-time prevention educator at ARS.

"It's all confidential, but at the same time, from a personal perspective, I know the stigma out there still exists," Rawlinson said.

Like Handrahan, Rawlinson is also leaving ARS. The federal funding for Rawlinson's position runs out as of July. Federal funding for AIDS services is in short supply. New Hampshire service providers are especially feeling the pinch because the state does not allocate any money for service providers. Rawlinson believes the new restrictions are mainly cost-cutting measures, although she thinks there's a political agenda behind the cuts.

"I think the current federal administration thinks HIV isn't a problem and it's affecting the people it should be affecting. I think that's a horrible, horrible thing," she said. "The state governments are doing all they can, but ... that limited money factor is huge."

Less money for services and greater test restrictions aren't the only challenges facing ARS. Since January, Rawlinson said six staff members have left, including the group's executive director Wendy Noyes. A new executive director, Christine Alibrandi O'Connor, took over two weeks ago and was not available for an interview for this story.

ARS held its ninth annual Seacoast AIDS Walk on Sunday, May 1. A final total for the amount of money raised was not available at press time; last year's walk raised $66,000.

While she thinks funding cutbacks will affect the care services the group can provide, Rawlinson said the staff changes at ARS are good and shouldn't affect the level of service. Having a new staff trained under the new guidelines will make for a better transition.

"I know for me personally, I wouldn't transition well to the new things coming down from the state," she said.