On Wednesday, Nov. 16, the members of Delta Sigma Theta (DST) sorority held an informational session on STD and HIV awareness called “Who’s Been Sleeping in Your Bed?”.
President of DST LeAndra Keller, a senior majoring in mass comm-unication, said that she was passionate about the event.
“The purpose of ‘Who’s Been Sleeping in Your Bed’ is to educate college men and women about practicing safe sex and protecting yourself from STDs and AIDS,” Keller said.
DST brought in Veronica Graham of Hope Health to speak on the matter, who discussed the ways to prevent, live with and treat STDs and HIV.
The session began with Graham taking an informal poll asking students various questions relating to intercourse. From there, it became a speech on why condoms are important to use.
According to Graham, the consequences of not having a condom include the obvious pregnancy scares, and also STDs and potentially HIV.
Graham discussed different STDs such as chlamydia that pass through the exchange of fluid. She said that it is similar to “playing a game of Russian Roulette.” From there, pictures were passed around that depicted the extreme cases of what STDs can do.
Graham said that Hope Health offers various tests, including HIV testing, for free. Hope Health is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and walk-ins are available. Appointments can be made by calling (843) 667-9414.
“I want to make sure all people are informed about STDs in order to inform others,” Graham said. “People are not going to find out what they need to know by visiting a doctor’s office and listing to someone they cannot relate to.”
After Graham finished explaining ways to get help after the fact, school nurse Tracy Aniello spoke to students about ways to get birth control and condoms on campus.Aniellosaid that she had just placed an order for a box of over 1,000 condoms that she will distribute to students within the next week.
If students have questions, Aniello can be reached at taniello@fmarion.edu. All information will be kept confidential.