Zita Powell, Health Program Specialist and Community Mobile Specialist for the Metropolitan Health District, was on campus April 16 to let students know that Metro Health was conducting free sexual transmitted disease and human immunodeficiency virus testing.
“Free STD and HIV testing today upstairs!” Powell shouted to students as they passed by her table. Powell stood at the table with a bright smile offering information to students who stopped. The table had vivid colored pamphlets dismissing STD myths and free condoms scattered across the surface.
“If you don’t take anything else please take some protection,” Powell said to students who walked by in between class in the Central Academic Building lobby. All of these services were offered as part of April being STD awareness month. However, Metro Health does offer other outreach programs outside the month of April.
“I go to locations that are requested to teach and promote sexual health awareness,” Powell said. Powell and her team visited and provided information at 37 other locations in San Antonio before they arrived at A&M-San Antonio.
“Our goal is to conduct 4,000 STD and HIV tests for the month of April,” Powell said. Texas A&M-San Antonio was one of the stops on Powell’s large list of locations to visit and conduct tests.
Powell also shared that in addition to the free testing, Metro Health will also provide free treatment for any tests that come back with a positive result. This treatment has a approximate value of three hundred dollars and with Metro Health it’s free.
In San Antonio, the STD rate is higher than the state average, due to the lack of knowledge of free testing and fear discourages people getting tested. According to Texas STD surveillance report in Bexar county, chlamydia increased by 15 percent and gonorrhea increased by 22 percent.
There are 15 million new cases in the United States each year, approximately 4 million appear in adolescents 12-18. In order to combat these high rates places like Metro Health, Planned parenthood and DNA Paternity & STD Testing Lab provide free STD testing services.
Due to the high rates of STDs, A&M-San Antonio’s LGBTQ organization, The Coalition, invited Metropolitan Health District to the campus to provide free STD/HIV testing and offer free information about sexual health for students. This reporter was not allowed to observe the testing process due to confidentiality issues, but she was invited to stand at the table with the Coalition.
Raphael Velasquez, a junior Business Administration major at A&M- San Antonio, is the public relations officer for the Coalition and said he was excited that the event brought good student engagement.
“It’s extremely important for students to know their status for their health, their relationships, their life and their future,” Velasquez said.
The Coalition wanted to bring Metro Health to campus to raise awareness because “the growth of new infections continues to pose serious health risks,” Velasquez said. The Coalition also felt that it was beneficial to students to be involved in this event.
“Students benefited from this because it lets them know their status, they learn a little bit about sexual health, and we also provided free condoms,” Velasquez said.
The Coalition wants students to know that they are more than a LGBTQ organization, but they will help students from all backgrounds.