SEMO HEALTH CENTER BUSY DURING YEAR

Southeast Missouri State University students have purchased about 15,000 condoms over the past eight months from the school's Center for Health and Counseling.

The sale of condoms is part of a wide range of services offered by the center, including tests for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, gonorrhea and syphilis.

Sale of condoms has climbed in recent years, as has pregnancy testing at the center, said Judy St. John, health and counseling director.

The center began doing pregnancy testing in the 1986-87 school year, but on a low-key basis. "We didn't advertise it," she said.

"The climate of the campus was extremely conservative," explained St. John.

But in the past two years, under the administration of President Kala Stroup, the university has done more to publicize such services for its students.

"The university has grown less conservative," St. John said.

The number of pregnancy tests conducted by the center has climbed steadily since 1986-87.

In that year, 58 tests were done, with 14 being positive.

In 1987-88, there were 55 tests, 14 proving positive; in 1988-89, 52 tests and 13 positive; in 1989-90, 113 tests and 26 positive; in 1990-91, 145 tests with 34 being positive; in 1991-92, 146 tests with 27 being positive; and through March 31 of the 1992-93 year, 185 tests with 38 of them proving positive.

While the number of students diagnosed as being pregnant h as climbed, so has the number being tested. The percentage of tests that have proven positive has been around 20 percent over the past couple years, health center statistics show.

Most of the women tested are single, although occasionally a married student comes in for a pregnancy test, said St. John.

For those who are found to be pregnant, the center informs them of their various options, from abortion to adoption.

"Sometimes all they want to do is cry because they can't make any decisions," said St. John. "They're in shock."

Before the 1989-90 school year, the health center sold perhaps 200 condoms a year, said Sallie Loos, assistant director of the center and a registered nurse.

In 1989-90, the center sold about 1,000, she said. In the 1990-91 fiscal year, the number of condoms sold totaled less than 5,000.

Last fiscal year, the health center sold 11,000, a figure that has already been broken this year.

Sales of condoms to students are divided about equally between the sexes, Loos said.

St. John said the figures don't include the condoms sold through dispensing machines at the University Center and in campus residence halls.

St. John said condom machines were put in those buildings about two years ago at the request of Student Government.

But it costs less to buy the condoms at the health center. Condoms are sold at cost, 10 for a dollar. They are packaged in brown paper bags and distributed with an informational booklet called "Condom Sense."

"We provide education with every service that we give," explained St. John. "It's a holistic approach to health services."

"These are good condoms. They are not cheapies," said St. John.

"We don't make a profit on students here," she said. "Nothing that we do is for profit."

The center, for example, sells non-prescription drugs at cost. "They (students) pay 50 cents for a four- or five-day supply of cold tablets," said St. John. "It's really quite a good deal for students."

Loos said the sale of condoms reflects the rising concern about AIDS.

"We started selling them because of AIDS," said Loos, noting that a university committee on AIDS developed guidelines in 1987.

St. John said the center has tried to respond to students' health needs.

"We knew that our pregnancies were going up," said St. John. In addition, local doctors were seeing more students with sexually transmitted diseases.

The university began doing testing for the HIV or AIDS virus and other sexually transmitted diseases in September 1991.

Since then, the center has done 360 HIV tests. None of them has been positive for the AIDS virus.

"Through our office, no one has tested positive but we do have students on campus who have tested positive for HIV," said St. John.

Right now, one out of every 200 students tested nationwide is HIV positive, she said.

Based on national statistics, Loos and St. John said that among Southeast students each year there will be one or two new cases of AIDS, 80 new cases of people being diagnosed as HIV positive, and nearly 300 cases of other sexually transmitted diseases.

But they said not all such cases would be seen by the health center. Many students choose to see their own doctor, St. John said.

Loos said sales of condoms are more prevalent at certain times of the year, such as before spring break. "The number of (pregnancy) tests go up after spring break," she said.

Both women believe the health center's campus education efforts regarding safer sex may be paying off.

St. John said the center is much more visible in its health efforts since moving into new quarters in Crisp Hall in August 1988.

"Most students on campus today know who we are and where we are," she said.

Loos said, "We're seeing many more students than we have in the past."

St. John said the center was not pushing students to be sexually active. In fact, she said the center makes it clear that abstinence is the only 100 percent protection against pregnancy.