The celebration of Valentine’s Day is as best a time as ever to discuss the importance of sexual wellness. Whether you spend it with a significant other, a situationship, or a total stranger, the potential for STIs and unplanned pregnancies still remains. Monmouth University’s Health Center provides resources and learning tools to educate students on the subject here on our own campus.
Kristine Kelly, Director of Monmouth’s Health Services, emphasizes the importance of spreading information regarding sexual wellness. She explained, “Sexual health education empowers students to make informed decisions about their bodies, relationships, sexuality, and sexual activity. Education provides them with knowledge about consent and safe practices. College can be a time of sexual experimentation and fluidity therefore students are at a higher risk for STIs and unintended pregnancies. Education about contraception, prevention methods, and STI transmission can help minimize these risks.”
Kelly and the Health Center encourage students to utilize their resources regarding the topic. “Our Health Center here at Monmouth provides a judgment-free environment in regards to sexual health counseling,” Kelly said. “Students should feel safe coming into the Health Center to confidentially speak to one of our clinicians regarding any questions or needs they may have. We offer STI screening, pregnancy testing, contraceptive counseling, and prescription options for birth control pills.” As well as these, Health Services provides students with free condoms, located in a basket in their waiting room.
Receiving a screening for sexually transmitted diseases might be worrisome, but Kelly recommends individuals screen for them consistently to ensure maximum safety. “I recommend at least an annual blood test that screens for HIV, Hepatitis C, and Syphilis and a urine test every 3-6 months that screens for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia depending on your risk factors.”
Not only does Health Services provide all of these services, but they provide most of them at no cost to students. “Any visit to the Health Center is always free. Pregnancy testing is at no cost. STI screening entails sending specimens off to the lab therefore we will collect insurance information from the student to send to the lab. If the student is uninsured or prefers not to utilize their insurance for any reason we have options for self-pay as well as referrals to free STI clinics located in the surrounding community.
Kelly concluded, “We have the ability to prescribe birth control pills here at the Health Center [as well]. It would then be up to the student to pay for those pills at the pharmacy through their insurance or self-pay. I just recently applied to a program that would supply us with a free plan B which we would be able to dispense right from here at no cost…more to come on that!”
