NC State offers many sexual health services to students and can be divided into three main branches: the Women’s Clinic at the Student Health Center, the Women’s Center and the GLBT Center. Each works to educate students about sexual health.
The Women’s Clinic at the Health Center
The Women’s Clinic provides a wide range of health services, including gynecological care. Patients are guaranteed confidentiality in a judgment-free zone in the clinic, where they are encouraged to ask questions and take advantage of the available services.
Heather Vernier, the Health Center’s outreach coordinator, said the Health Center’s focus is educating students on the importance of having healthier and safer sexual relations and providing them the tools they need to make healthy decisions.
“Whether that’s abstinence or whether someone is sexually active, we’re just trying to educate on every different aspect of sexual health,” Vernier said.
The services the Women’s Clinic provides include routine checkups and exams, such as pap smears, pelvic and breast exams and STD testing. They provide different types of contraceptives, pregnancy testing and ultrasounds. Plan B is available at the Health Center’s pharmacy without a prescription.
During normal business hours, female survivors of rape or sexual assault can go to the Women’s Clinic to receive a forensic exam. The Women’s Clinic staff will perform STD screening and treatment at no cost, and they will refer survivors to the Counseling Center. Male students who are survivors of rape and sexual violence can go to the clinic on the first floor of the Health Center.
“Every student pays a student health fee in their tuition that covers the expense to be seen by our provider,” Vernier said.
Students can also receive up to three free male or female condoms per day as well as free tampons at the check-in desk.
The Health Center is organizing programs such as Pack Peers, which launches next fall and aims to promote sexual health among students. In this program, students who are interested in educating their peers on health topics can join a group for a semester and shadow clinicians.
The Health Center is ranked as the number one best student health service in North Carolina and number nine nationwide in the Princeton Review’s annual “Best Colleges Guide.”
Students can make appointments to see a healthcare provider at the Women’s Clinic through healthweb.ncsu.edu or by calling 919-515-2563.
The Women’s Center
The Women’s Center, located on the fifth floor of Talley Student Union, provides interpersonal violence advocacy services and confidential support to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and rape. Unlike the Women’s Clinic, which is focused on medical service, the Women’s Center is focused on social justice and gender equity.
As Sara Forcella, rape prevention education coordinator at the Women’s Center, points out, its services are directed toward students of all genders and sexual orientations.
“Men think they’re not welcome here and that’s not the case,” said Forcella. “We’re a welcome space for both men, women and folks that are gender non-conforming.”
According to Forcella, the center is focused on working with survivors who experienced violence, whether it is in the form of stalking or relationship violence or sexual assault, and helping them make decisions about their reporting options and the resources they have.
“We can provide advocacy services and support services and really be there through the entire process of healing whatever that might look like for them,” Forcella said.
The Women’s Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The center can be reached at 919-515-2012, or online oied.ncsu.edu/womens-center. For 24-hour assistance operators with the Relationship & Sexual Violence Phone Line can be reached at 919-618-7273.
The GLBT Center
In addition to engaging and empowering members of the GLBT community and their allies on campus, the GLBT Center hosts identity-based health-related educational events and programs, It provides free latex and non-latex male and female condoms, lubricant and gloves.
Andy DeRoin, program director of the GLBT Center, said that there is an issue of access when it comes to safe sex options.
“We decided as a center that it is important for us to offer a wide variety of safer sex supplies and internal condoms are one of many options that we provide,” DeRoin said.
On April 27, the GLBT Center is collaborating with the Alliance of AIDS Services, Carolina, to provide free and confidential HIV and STD testing for students at Talley 4132 from 1-4 p.m. No insurance is required.
“We, as staff members, we have an open door policy,” DeRoin said. “We’re always happy to pull out as much material as someone would need or want. We have loads of brochures and pamphlets and informational things that people can pull at their leisure on the counter.”
The GLBT Center can be reached at 919-513-9742 or found online at oied.ncsu.edu/glbt.
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