Gonorrhea, syphilis, AIDS: subjects not typically brought up in everyday conversations. However, there is one week that brings awareness to this topic.
Sexually transmitted diseases are not a favorite topic of anyone’s, especially in the doctor’s office where some have to face a hard truth. However, Annie LaForce, assistant director for programs, organized a week specifically dedicated to providing information to students about STDs and was able to do something different this year than in the previous four years she has done this event.
“This is the first time we’ve had the health department come out which I think is a great thing because they have more resources and more money to devote toward (STD Awareness Week) than we do,” LaForce said. “We don’t really have a budget so a lot of ours is just brochures, but they have more time and more energy, and they’re a little more dedicated to it than we are.”
The Richmond County Health Department came out on Monday, April 11, with various brochures about different STDs and other items to display for STD Awareness Week, including pins, stickers, and even cookies. Shawn Walker, a community disease specialist for the Health Department, among others, came out to encourage students to get the information and use it.
“With HIV, I know that it does impact a lot of people in so many different areas,” Walker said. “Whether they are infected, they know someone who is infected or if someone doesn’t know, I’m trying to get them this information and get them tested, so they’ll know what their status is.”
According to LaForce, the students received better information about STDs from the Health Department than Jaguar Student Activities would have been able to provide. However, during the week, there were booths set up in Allgood Hall and University Hall as well as the Jaguar Student Activities Center handing out information to students passing by.
“First we want to make sure they know (STDs) are not a taboo subject, it’s something they need to learn about and something they need to become aware of,” LaForce said. “I especially want people to, if they don’t want the information or need it, then to give it to their friends they may think need it or to help them learn a little bit more about it, in case there are some of those students who don’t know much about it.”
Some of the worst STDs out there, according to Beverly Collins, assistant professor of nursing, are herpes and AIDS, because they are viruses that cannot be cured at this point in time. Collins also said it is the worst thing to not inform a partner about a sexual disease for whatever reason.
“It’s now the viruses that are much harder to treat,” Collins said. “Herpes (is) painful, lifelong, nasty, if your partner doesn’t tell you and with that comes AIDS.”
In the past, STDs were something that could be treated with antibiotics, Collins said. There used to be systemic problems that would cause infertility, arthritis and other complications. However, when the medical community realized they could do cultures and treat these problems, then the viruses, like AIDS and herpes, started to grow exponentially.
It’s not only the young generation facing the STD problem, but also the older generation, such as widows and other older people who start to date again. Because most have only had one partner and were born in a time where inhibitions did not allow talk of these topics, some are unaware and contract one, Collins said.
“We have new people facing this issue with very little experience to know how to face and deal, and if we don’t have those who have been through it saying ‘Hey let’s teach,’” Collins said. “In fact, we have other people saying don’t teach, I’ll take care of it myself, my way and ignorance is not bliss.”