So "that's" what Valentine's Day is all about
Josh Cohick
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Columns
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A sigh of disappointment followed by a feeling of disgust. That was my initial reaction upon opening my e-mail on Jan. 22 and reading the following subject line: "FREE HIV testing for Valentine's Day."
This e-mail announced that on Valentine's Day, the Wittenberg Health Center will be teaming up with the Clark County Health Department to conduct free and confidential HIV tests. They will be open to students, faculty, and staff, and a patient can have his/her results in less than a half hour. The e-mail proceeded to go into detail about HIV and the importance of getting yourself tested.
Now, before I get into the ridiculous, let me say this - I'm not saying that holding free HIV testing is a bad idea. Quite the opposite. If you're one of those people that pride themselves on hooking up with a new "friend" every time you go to the bar, then this test is for you - probably even long overdue. Getting the most amount of knowledge about your own medical situation is always for the best, and this is one of those opportunities. Even if you won't walk away with the customary Health Center brown bag of goodies. However, just because the testing is a good idea doesn't mean that the Health Center went about promoting this the right way, and this is where my problems come in.
First off, while presenting some good medical facts, the Health Center uses the one method that our parents, teachers, counselors, etc. have been telling us for years to avoid falling prey to: peer pressure! This is a line directly from the e-mail: "[T]he United States (CDC and other major health organizations) are embarking on a policy change of recommending routine HIV testing for everyone, regardless of your perceived risk. You can be on the cutting edge of this new idea of testing everyone, and get tested!"
Is it just me, or when you read this line, do you immediately think of a senior in high school, wearing his Fonz-style leather jacket while taking a puff of a cigarette, telling little freshmen that smoking is cool and will instantly elevate their popularity? That's the basis of the Health Center's argument - everyone's going to be doing it, so you should too!
This e-mail announced that on Valentine's Day, the Wittenberg Health Center will be teaming up with the Clark County Health Department to conduct free and confidential HIV tests. They will be open to students, faculty, and staff, and a patient can have his/her results in less than a half hour. The e-mail proceeded to go into detail about HIV and the importance of getting yourself tested.
Now, before I get into the ridiculous, let me say this - I'm not saying that holding free HIV testing is a bad idea. Quite the opposite. If you're one of those people that pride themselves on hooking up with a new "friend" every time you go to the bar, then this test is for you - probably even long overdue. Getting the most amount of knowledge about your own medical situation is always for the best, and this is one of those opportunities. Even if you won't walk away with the customary Health Center brown bag of goodies. However, just because the testing is a good idea doesn't mean that the Health Center went about promoting this the right way, and this is where my problems come in.
First off, while presenting some good medical facts, the Health Center uses the one method that our parents, teachers, counselors, etc. have been telling us for years to avoid falling prey to: peer pressure! This is a line directly from the e-mail: "[T]he United States (CDC and other major health organizations) are embarking on a policy change of recommending routine HIV testing for everyone, regardless of your perceived risk. You can be on the cutting edge of this new idea of testing everyone, and get tested!"
Is it just me, or when you read this line, do you immediately think of a senior in high school, wearing his Fonz-style leather jacket while taking a puff of a cigarette, telling little freshmen that smoking is cool and will instantly elevate their popularity? That's the basis of the Health Center's argument - everyone's going to be doing it, so you should too!
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