April is national STD awareness month. Don’t hesitate to whip out your appointment book and arrange a time to get tested.
Miriam Mogilevsky, a Medill freshman and SHAPE member, says students can get quick, painless and simple tests on campus at University Health Service.
“Basically you can come in and get tested at Searle for a lot of different STIs, but they won’t test you for all of them at once,” Mogilevsky says. “They’ll talk to you about your sexual history to figure out what kind of STI you might have.”
The decision to get tested or not is based on your risk and situation, says Dr. John Alexander of University Health Service. “This can be due to lifestyle, sexual practices, a risky exposure or other event,” Alexander says. “Many people request screening when entering a relationship.”
Alexander says that the screening process does not take long and that most test results are available in one to two business days, depending on the test ordered and the lab. “For example, our lab runs syphilis tests on Thursdays, so no matter when the sample is drawn, the results are available on the next Friday,” he says.
Weinberg senior Cassie* went to Searle for a routine Pap smear and ended up getting tested for STIs that same day. “They were very approachable,” she says. “If you go in for one thing, they’ll ask you some questions. If you’re willing to be open with them, you can actually get tested for other things while you’re there.”
Cassie says she encourages other students to get tested at Searle. “That’s what they are there for, the students,” she says. “The sexual health nurse was especially nice and personable, and she didn’t make me feel bad because they always ask how many partners — they just want the answer.”
Kevin* is a Medill junior who has been tested at both Searle and his local health department facility. He says in his experience, getting tested at Searle is a dramatically different situation. His local facility was difficult to get to because it was a long distance to travel by public transportation.
“Traveling is obviously one thing, and Searle wins as far as transportation goes,” Kevin says. He also says he had trouble finding the location and, once he did, had to wait in long lines because the appointments were walk-in only. Searle accepts walk-ins and scheduled appointments.
As far as the help that he received, Kevin says that although the people at his local facility were “really nice and really helpful,” the appointment was still inconvenient. “Getting the results took two weeks, and I had to come all the way back down,” he says. “With the HIV, testing it’s a little bit more uncomfortable because they have so many people to get to, so its kind of like you’re another person coming through so they don’t delicately deliver the results.”
Kevin says that at Searle, staff has time to give you more attention. “They take the results, show it to you, and probably give you a bag of condoms on the way out,” Kevin says. “Those are the differences: convenience, utility. Searle wins.”
There are many ways to become at risk for STIs. Mogilevsky notes that even a small cut on your hand can be a point of entry for an STI. Making an appointment to consult with the practitioners at Searle is a proactive way to ensure that you stay aware of your sexual health and cure any illness you might have contracted before spreading it to others.
Keep in mind that sometimes it takes a while for symptoms to develop. Mogilevsky advises, “Just because you had unprotected sex last night doesn’t necessarily mean you should get tested today.” This shouldn’t discourage students from getting tested, but suggests instead that they should stay on their guard. “If you’ve had a lot of unprotected sex and don’t necessarily know what those people [you’ve had sex with] have been up to, you should get tested,” Mogilevsky says.
Searle is now offering free HIV testing the first Thursday each month by appointment.
*Names have been changed.