Despite doubling its hours from 20 to 40 a week, students are still having difficulty getting an appointment at the sexually transmitted infection clinic.
Each week, 60 slots are available to students. Since the center’s opening in Fall 2012, the slots have been completely booked every week, said Rosemary Dougherty, health educator for the Alachua County Health Department.
Provided by the Alachua County Health Department, a satellite clinic in the Student Health Care Center at UF offers free-of-charge STD tests to students that will stay off their UF records and away from their parents’ mailboxes.
“We kind of worked around the main problem the school brought to our attention of students not wanting to get tested because it was expensive, and their parents would find out about it,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty explained that this is a non-university-affiliated clinic hosted by the health department on campus. The clinic has a separate system from UF, so neither has access to each other’s records.
“It was three years ago when everything changed for us,” said Phylis Craig, associate director of nursing at the Student Health Care Center. “STD-testing prices went sky-high when we were put under the umbrella of the College of Medicine and had to apply all their pricing, which were outside clinic charges.”
Craig said they wanted a more economic way for students to get tested.
Currently, Alachua County ranks fourth highest in the state for STDs, Craig said.
“We see asymptomatic students at the clinic. Many students tell us they heard about the clinic from a friend who tested positive with no symptoms,” Dougherty said.
Alexandra Stephan, an 18-year-old health science freshmen, said she didn’t know about the clinic until recently.
“The fact that testing is not only free but also confidential makes it a hundred times more appealing for any student,” she said.
A version of this story ran on page 8 on 9/30/2013 under the headline "STI clinic keeping slots filled with students getting tested"
