After receiving an Inclusive Excellence Grant from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the project “Improving Health in Sexual Minority Students” has used their funds to cover the cost of sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing in EMU’s Health Services, making it completely free for students.

Students may have seen posters for the project in bathrooms across campus, which read, “Chlamydia and Gonorrhea: Do you know your risk?” They provide fast facts about STIs and instructions to receive the new streamlined testing. 

The project, led by Professor of Nursing Cathy Rittenhouse and the Peer Educators Sophomore Sarah Moore, Junior Ashley Mellinger, and Seniors Will Blosser and Natalie Brown, aims to make the testing private, confidential, simple, and available to all students. 

Although any EMU student can receive the testing, the project specifically aims to offer support for minority and LGBTQIA+ students.

For those who are not out to their parents about their sexual lifestyle, fear of an STI test showing up on their health insurance statement can deter them from receiving necessary testing. With this service, these statements won’t appear. 

There’s also an intersection between race and sexual health. “African Americans are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections,” says Rittenhouse. “Not because of their behavior, but because they don’t necessarily have access to care and sources that they may need.” 

With this project, she “would like to see a level playing field where people have equal access to the health care that they need…because the effects of what we see in terms of diseases and conditions, especially in the people of color community, really are way off from what they should be.”

Peer Educators share a similar hope to Rittenhouse, also stressing their desire to bring awareness to the importance of caring for one’s sexual health.

Blosser would like to “[See] a lot more discourse about STIs on campus,” and hopes to “[connect] some of our more disadvantaged students to resources.”

“This is to get people the help they need,” says Mellinger. “[Testing] is anonymous, it’s free, there’s no shame. There’s nothing involved other than just getting your results, knowing if you’re healthy, [and] knowing if you’re safe.” 

According to their website, Peer Educators is a group of student leaders working under Safer Together, EMU’s “office of sexual and relationship violence prevention.” 

Rittenhouse believes this group of students is an important resource in raising awareness about the importance of sexual health and how it intersects with relationship violence and sexual assault. “I think that grassroots, peer-to-peer conversations about those things is essential. It’s far more effective to hear it from somebody that you know that’s your age, that you trust, and have a relationship with, than say someone who’s significantly older,” she said.

Students who would like to receive testing can stop by Health Services between 8:30 and 1:45 Monday through Friday. For the test, students simply have to provide a urine sample. For the most accurate results, tests should be taken an hour since you have last urinated. Results will be emailed to students within 48 to 72 hours. 

For any questions or concerns about testing, students can contact Health Services at (540) 432-4308. To get updates on the work of Peer Educators, check out their Instagram: peereducators_emu.  Additional resources for students affected by sexual and relationship violence can be found on EMU’s Safer Together page. “Don’t suffer in silence, don’t feel like you’re alone in this, in whatever you’re concerned about, because there’s people that care,” Rittenhouse urges.