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• On Tuesday we will be focusing mainly on women’s sexual health. We will be hosting an event called “Ask the Sexual Health Expert” in our Wellness Center. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions about different birth control options, and any other sexual health questions they have. Students will also have the chance to make their own condom holder so they can safely and discretely store condoms in perilous places- like purses!
• On Wednesday we are hosting one of our famous Happy Hour events. At Happy Hours, we serve non-alcoholic drinks, which we call mocktails, snacks and educate students – in fun and interactive ways- on at least two different topics. One of the topics is always focused on alcohol awareness; the other changes with what’s popular in the news/our needs assessment data. Next week we will be addressing sexual health as our second theme. Here are the activities we have planned:
o We will be playing STI BINGO, in which students will be given unique BINGO sheets that have different STIs in each square. They then have to go around the Wellness Center and find/read various numbered riddles about the different STIs. They then have to correctly match the riddle number with the appropriate STI square. Below is an example:
12.) You may want to scratch or even shave, but we mites are
known to misbehave. Neither technique will really do. To
get rid of us you need special shampoo. HINT: Not lobsters
but…
Students would then write the number “12” in the BINGO
square that says “Crabs”
• Thursday will be focused towards the LGBTQ community. We will be hosting an LGBTQ and Ally Jeopardy game. Questions will pertain to sexual health risks, , how to protect oneself, and a fun category on LGBT celebrities. The Safe Zone coordinator for the university will also be present to answer questions and host an activity.o We will also be hosting a “12 steps to putting on a condom” relay with and without beer goggles to show what could go wrong if you engage in sexual activity when you are under the influence.
• On Friday, REACH is partnering with two other groups on campus to host “A Gentleman’s Affair”. This event is geared towards men and their sexual health. There will be a panel discussion, wing bar, spades tournament, and groups tabling to answer questions that guests may have. REACH will provide an interactive activity explaining the 12 steps to putting on a condom and demonstrating each step on various penis models.
Students are encouraged to attend as many events as possible. Not only will students receive goodie bags filled with specialty condoms (Thanks AFY for designating us to be a Condom Safe Site!) for each event/activity they participate in, but students who attend more than 3 events next week will be put into a drawing for massive prizes involving gift cards and massage passes!
Still not done….
Since this month is also National Condom Month, we have 2 ongoing campaigns: the Golden Condom Competition and the Condom Label Competition. These two campaigns aim to get students excited about sexual health and our universities Wellness Center (we’re a fun place!).
• Colden Condom Competition: Every day our Wellness Center hands out a pack of five free lubricated condoms per student who walks in. This month, students are on the lookout for a golden condom in their pack of condoms. When they find this condom they can return to one of the events during Sexual Responsibility Week to receive a prize.
• Condom Label Competition: Our Wellness Center wraps the pack of five free condoms in discrete bags. These bags are sealed with labels containing clever phrases and pictures. One of our popular labels has a picture of a cartoon army man who says “Cover me, I am going in!”. This month, students have the opportunity to design and post their own label on our Facebook page. The label with the most votes will be displayed on the packs for two weeks.
So basically we’re going to be busy next week! We’d love to hear what you all are up to.
If you have any questions or comments on what REACH is doing for sexual Responsibility week please feel free to email Colleen at cvernola@mail.usf.edu or Monica at mroussea@mail.usf.edu.
Having moderate views in today’s political climate can be very confusing. With such polar opposite ideologies always fighting for dominance, it is often difficult to decide if something is too “left” or too “right”. This may sound excessively nerdy, but when I’m faced with this situation I like to engage in debates with my friends. I’m often even the devil’s advocate just for the sake of experiencing and learning the other viewpoint. This semester I found myself often debating the new HPV vaccination law in California. This law, which will go into effect on January 1, 2012, will allow any child aged twelve or older to receive HPV vaccines without parental consent. Below are just two of the responses I made to arguments that I heard. Feel free to respond to this post with your ideas/opinions/arguments!
This idea is too expensive. HPV vaccines are not cheap. This law will cost countless tax dollars since any child without parental consent can receive a ‘free’ HPV vaccine. Numerous people are likely to take advantage of the system and prompt their children to receive the free vaccines when they can actually afford it.
-Although the vaccine is quite expensive, this law shouldn’t impact costs too
much. This law isn’t introducing the idea of tax-paid HPV vaccines. Vaccines for
Children (VFC) is a federal program that already offers vaccines – including the
HPV vaccines-at no cost for children under 19 years of age who are Medicaid
eligible, uninsured, under-insured, or American Indian or Alaska Native. In other
words, if a person is part of an insurance plan that does not cover a particular
vaccine, then that person is considered “under-insured” and is eligible to
receive the vaccination for free by a VFC provider. Therefore, it seems that
everyone is covered. The only people who are not currently covered are young
people who have a parent who refuses to allow them to receive the vaccine.
-Since anyone with or without an insurance plan is already covered to receive the
vaccine, it doesn’t seem likely that people would “take advantage of the system”.
Children should not be making health decisions without help from their parents.
-I agree. I think parents should be involved in their children’s health decisions.
Unfortunately, as much as we would like to believe that all parents are involved
in their children’s health, this is not the case. Family life is not always composed
of caring parents who support their children. Children often raise themselves or
other children. Furthermore, parents often have the inability or lack of desire to
address any sexual related topics with their children. No matter what the issue or
reason, if a person wants to protect his or her health, then shouldn’t he or she have
the ability and access to do it? If a twelve year old knows about a vaccine, is
educated about the matter, and requests a vaccination, should she or he not be
able to receive it? If young men and women of teenage years decide to protect
themselves from STIs, should we not encourage and foster their responsible health
practices?
To read more about VFC program, visit
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/default.htm
