Some students who seek special testing at Campus Care may have more to face than wait times and insurance billings.
Though the student health center offers free testing for several sexually transmitted infections, some students are taking their time before checking up on their sexual health.
“I think, just in general, it’s sensitive. I think (my friends) would be embarrassed to go,” said Matt Digby, a junior studying journalism.
Between July and August last year, the center performed 929 tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia, 125 tests for syphilis and 380 tests for HIV, according to Campus Care records.
The center offers free testing for gonorrhea, chlamydia and HIV, as well as an anonymous testing option for HIV, said Amanda Fox, the center’s new nursing supervisor.
“If they can’t wait for the third Wednesday of the month, they can come to the lab, free, and can find out results in two days,” Fox said, adding that free testing for STIs such as syphilis is not offered at the center, and that insurance typically does not cover the cost.
Fox started at the center last Monday after Karen Robinson left the position. Campus Care has not commented on why Robinson departed.
Fox said she often times finds that students who visit the center for testing are nervous about the appointment and even withhold pertinent information until speaking one-on-one with a provider.
In conjunction with embarrassment over requesting a test, Fox said some students misunderstand how STIs are contracted.
“There are some misconceptions about how you contract an STD — some people think only vaginal or rectal sex is how you contract an STD,” Fox said.
Sarah Katz, a sophomore studying social work, said she has not personally sought out the center for STI testing, but she does think that students on campus know it is offered.
However, Josh Boyer, a graduate student studying music, said that while he was aware the center offered testing, he was unaware that certain STI tests are free of charge.
Nonetheless, Fox said students visit the center each day to request testing, with some days seeing more patients than others.
“I think (patients) are at first very shy and not wanting to give you information,” she said. “However, when they realize that, in order to have the test done, we need to know what’s going on, they give us (the information).”
sg409809@ohiou.edu
