By: Hannah Stock
Okina Tran stands under a bright LED light rocket ship that reads “Safer sex is out of this world,” passing out T-shirts and condoms to fellow concert-goers during this summer’s Maha Music Festival.
Tran, a University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) junior, worked with four other UNO students as Get Checked Omaha summer interns, creating different campaigns to spread awareness about the epidemic STD rates in Omaha.
Through involvement fairs and athletic games at UNO, the interns spread awareness to students by handing out free swag bags and playing interactive games.
Douglas County STD rates for chlamydia and gonorrhea have consistently been higher than state and national rates since 1998, said Jill Heggen communications director for the Women’s Fund of Omaha.
STD rates are not only an epidemic in Omaha, but rates are “skyrocketing” nationwide, Heggen said.
Get Checked Omaha works on multiple campaigns each year to spread awareness to men and women ages 15-to 24-years-old and provides access to confidential testing, treatment and protection. UNO’s Health Center is contracted via the Omaha Women’s Fund to coordinate condom orders with local business partners.
“We find out how many condoms each of our participating business partners need to give the community free access for protection,” said Sofia Jawed-Wessel, associate professor at UNO’s Health Center.
Jawed-Wessel said easy access to free condoms is good for everyone – the entire community benefits when people can easily prevent STI’s and unwanted pregnancies.
Get Checked Omaha boxes have the added benefit of normalizing sex and condoms by being placed in a variety of locations such as barber shops, changing rooms, tattoo shops, not just clinics.
“Reducing stigma regarding STIs is so important,” Jawed-Wessel said. “When we help people see that STIs are like any other health condition they are more likely to seek treatment and talk to partners.
As a Get Checked Omaha intern, Tran said she enjoyed seeing the “Love Rocket” campaign come to life and presenting it at the Maha Music Festival.
“It was really cool to see that they valued our ideas for something as cool as presenting it at a music festival,” Tran said. “A lot people, even parents at the festival, thought it was so cool that we were passing out free condoms and just getting the word out and getting the conversation started.”
Omaha
has been ranked as having one of the highest chlamydia rates of all
major U.S. cities, according to Get Checked Omaha website. Rates are
highest for the 20-to-24 age group, followed by the 15-to19-year-olds. UNO helps to spread awareness to not only their students, but also the entire Omaha community.
“There is so much stigma and shame when it comes to sexual health and sexual identity,” said Jason Coleman, director of UNO’s School of Health and Kinesiology. “By more community based education and more visuals such as the Get Checked Omaha campaigns, I believe we will see those rates drop over time.”
By continuingly spreading awareness, increasing the accessibility of free testing and treatment, the Women’s Fund will continue to make a community-wide change with the goal to reduce the STD rates in Omaha.
“Sexual health is such an important conversation to have,” Tran said. “Let’s start taking the time to have these conversations and take the shame out of it.”
