Safe is sexy: STI screening test

By Lyndi-Colleen Morgan

Students at St. Clair College have been learning that being safe is sexy, and that there should not be a stigma about getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

The Safe is Sexy campaign was held in the St. Clair College Student Centre Oct. 15. It was sponsored by the St. Clair College Student Representative Council, St Clair College’s Health Centre and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit in order to bring awareness to students about the importance of being tested and removing the stigmas that are associated with being tested.

Miranda Underwood, president of the SRC and member of the organizing committee, said this event is the first one of this magnitude to be held at St. Clair College for STI screening. The event was available to all St Clair students at the South campus in Windsor.

“We have started this year doing smaller testing events within the student residence,” said Underwood. “Testing has always been available, but we decided that we would take it out of the office.”

In 2014 Western University ran an event where 517 students where tested, setting a Canadian record for the most STI tests conducted in one day. On Sept. 21, the University of Windsor tried to break the world record for most STI tests conducted in a 24 hour period, with their event called T’s 4 Pee. They fell short of this goal but still tested 700 students in the time period.

St. Clair’s event ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. During that time, 539 students were tested for chlamydia and gonorrhea.

“People don’t have to be embarrassed to ask for STI testing. It really is the safest and easiest thing to do,” said Elyse Maindonald, nurse practitioner for the St. Clair College’s Health Centre. “Some may have an STI and not even know because there may be no symptoms. The danger of this is they would go untreated and can also pass an infection unknowingly to a partner.”

Public Health Ontario statistics show that in 2014, chlamydia rates were 272 per 100,000 Windsor-Essex residents, which is comparable to Ontario’s as a whole which was at 352 per 100,000 people.

Public Health Ontario statistics also show the rates for gonorrhea during this time were 19 carriers per 100,000 people, compared to Ontario’s average of 56 carriers.

Health promotion specialist for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, Dana Boyd, said if both schools could gather more than the 517 students Western did, it would be a victory for the district. She also said people who attended would be knowledgeable about prevention and advocating for their own health.

“The reason that we are here is that locally we are doing better than the provincial averages for chlamydia and gonorrhea,”said Boyd. “However, when you look at the people who are testing positive it is those under 24 years of age, that is why we are at the St. Clair campus and the university. We want to do an even better job. We don’t just want to be below the provincial average, we want to do an even better job and have safe and healthy people.”

Tyler Week’es waited in line to get tested said it is important as a 19-year-old college student to be tested.

“It’s healthy for you,” said Week’es. “I recommend that students get tested because if you are sexually active it’s a way of being informed about if you are infected or have been infected.”

Boyd said students who tested positive during the event will be notified by the health unit within the next week about treatment options and that the testing procedure and reporting is confidential.

Testing services are also available to students at St. Clair campuses who could not attend the event. For more information about testing and services offered by the Health Centre visit www.stclaircollege.ca/studentservices/healthservices.

The Windsor-Essex Health Unit also provides testing for all STIs including HIV and Hepatitis at all their locations. Appointment hours can be found at www.wechu.org.