Spring Break
Clinic Offers Free STD Tests
Christopher Duray
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: News
Student Health Services will host a free STD testing clinic on Tuesday, Feb. 19 in room 330 in the Student Union Ballroom from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The clinic follows the success of a first testing in November.
The Connecticut Department of Public Health will be administering the tests, which include a blood test for syphilis and a urinary test for gonorrhea and chlymidia. For this reason, students are advised not to urinate for at least an hour before going in for their test.
Any student who tests positive for any of the three diseases above will also be given free treatment.
There is only space for 200 students to be tested, though.
"We have limited resources and supplies, and we had very few positive readings last time we were at UConn," said Wanda Richardson, an epidemiologist at the Department of Public Health who helped organize the clinic.
"Normally we only go back and retest if there is a high positivity, which didn't prove to be so at UConn. It is one of the largest student populations we've ever done though."
Patricia Moriarty, an advanced practice registered nurse at the women's clinic, also helped organize the testing.
"We're trying to reach the people who couldn't get tested or who feel the need to be re-tested," she said. "It's a good way to get people who wouldn't get tested for financial reasons or who wouldn't want it on their insurance that they got tested or got treatment."
According to the Department of Public Health Web site, students in the 15-19 and 20-24 age ranges are at least twice as likely to have gonorrhea or chlamydia as any other age group.
"One out of three college students in the nation have an STD, one out of two have HPV," Moriarty said. "So this is a good age group to test."
The future of the clinic is in the air, however. The Department of Public Health recently received large budget cuts for 2008. Richardson says that she is currently waiting to get approval from her superiors to see if the free testing can continue at UConn.
Contact Christopher Duray at Christopher.Duray@UConn.edu.
The Connecticut Department of Public Health will be administering the tests, which include a blood test for syphilis and a urinary test for gonorrhea and chlymidia. For this reason, students are advised not to urinate for at least an hour before going in for their test.
Any student who tests positive for any of the three diseases above will also be given free treatment.
There is only space for 200 students to be tested, though.
"We have limited resources and supplies, and we had very few positive readings last time we were at UConn," said Wanda Richardson, an epidemiologist at the Department of Public Health who helped organize the clinic.
"Normally we only go back and retest if there is a high positivity, which didn't prove to be so at UConn. It is one of the largest student populations we've ever done though."
Patricia Moriarty, an advanced practice registered nurse at the women's clinic, also helped organize the testing.
"We're trying to reach the people who couldn't get tested or who feel the need to be re-tested," she said. "It's a good way to get people who wouldn't get tested for financial reasons or who wouldn't want it on their insurance that they got tested or got treatment."
According to the Department of Public Health Web site, students in the 15-19 and 20-24 age ranges are at least twice as likely to have gonorrhea or chlamydia as any other age group.
"One out of three college students in the nation have an STD, one out of two have HPV," Moriarty said. "So this is a good age group to test."
The future of the clinic is in the air, however. The Department of Public Health recently received large budget cuts for 2008. Richardson says that she is currently waiting to get approval from her superiors to see if the free testing can continue at UConn.
Contact Christopher Duray at Christopher.Duray@UConn.edu.
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