at the time i was underinsured and also received behavioral health care at whitman walker. >> whitmanalker has evolved over the years. >> yes. >> it is now full service health. attack a little bit, if you works about the different services you offer. you work with 13,000 patients every year? >> the downtown location and together our providers see about 13,000 patients every year. we have full service medical care, everything from primary care to women's health to medical adherence, support. we have behavioral health. we do dental care. we really are a full service community health center in addition to our legacy of providing std care and testing as well as hiv care. >> beyond -- as you mentioned, beyond hiv and aids, talk a little bit about, if you would, stats on other stds. >> so, yeah, there still are very large numbers of std infections. in fact, those numbers are not really changing. if anything, some of them are heading in the wrong direction. so, syphilis is a huge problem in d.c., gogonnarhea, clam -- chlamidiya. there are cultural reasons for what we call sexual networks tha

. >> reporter: the whitman walker health clinic in northwest is where the entire billing staff is trained to enroll uninsured patients who qualify for obamacare but during a three- hour visit, there were no candidates. just 321 district residents have purchased health insurance on the exchange so far. 1894 have completed an application and 12,294 have created online accounts. >> i'm really excited. i think that's actually a lot of people who have gone through the who process and enrolled. >> reporter: according to erin, the numbers are clear evidence that the locally-run website achealthlinks works. people by the thousand are curious and shopping but few are buying so far. >> when you're looking at new products, it takes a little while to digest what your options are. because people know the insurance isn't effective till january 1, people have some time where they can really digest the information and make a really high quality choice. >> reporter: maryland residents are shopping for obamacare on a state health website that was not functioning properly today. maryland reports just 2300 h

. >> aaron is the director of public benefits for whitman walker health.he's helping train the districts assisters who all work for different community based organizations including immigrant and faith based groups. >> they go out into the community and talk through the trusted networks, people they are used to serving about the new options available. >> reporter: it's an effort to educate people about a law many admit they don't understand. according to one study out monday, only two in five americans were aware of the new state run health insurance marketplaces called exchanges. and there are government subsidies to help people pay the premiums. >> i think our population isn't well informed on health care. >> reporter: jose works at mary's center. he's training to be an assister. he says many clients are unaware they will soon be able to purchase their own health insurance. >> there's a lot of hearsay. >> reporter: they start their new roles today, the first day people can sign up to buy individual insurance plans through the health exchanges. carter say

whitman walker health employees and volunteers are encouraging people to sign up for the 27th annual aids walk happening saturday, october 26 at freedom plaza hosted by our eun yang. >>> the neighborhood reporting more black bear sightings recently. >> oh, no. >> reporter: plus, a woman's terrifying story after she was carjacked in northwest washington. what she was doing just seconds before that attack. >>> and why your winter heating bill could soon be going up. 5:36. tom? >>> good morning. it's cloudy and we're in the 50s now, a bit of a blustery wind. rain getting closer to washington. i'll tell you when i think it will b >>> welcome back at 5:39. today is national walk to school day and we'll see special events to mark the occasion across the region in prince george's county, olympian dominique dawes at roger heights and our own storm team 4 meteorologist veronica johnson will be there as well as at least 300 students between the ages of 4 and 12 are expected to walk to school today. >>> students will be walking to school as well. leggett will celebrate at kensington park. this

. >> according to aaron of whitman and walker, the numbers are clear evidence that the locally run website, d.c. health links work. people by the thousands are curious and shopping. but few are buying so far. maryland residents are shopping for obama care on a state website called, maryland health connection. maryland reports just 2300 households have actually selected insurance, but 34,000 have created accounts. and there have been 260,000 hits on the website. in virginia, drentzs shopping for obama care use a website called enroll virginia, which does little more than kick users to the failing federal website, healthcare.gov that has the president fuming and critics howling. virginia governor, bob mcdonnell opted to stay out of obama care. no enrollment figures are available. in washington, scott broom, wusa9. >> and stepping on the campaign trail today, virginia attorney general and republican gubernatorial candidate, ken cuccinelli called on president obama to fire kathleen. he says the secretary of health and human services should be held accountable for the flawed rollout of the affo