A recent study shows that OU’s health services are not up to par with those of other major universities.

Trojan brand condoms commissioned a study three years ago to measure how sexually healthy American colleges universities are. This year, 139 schools were surveyed, and OU was ranked below the bottom half of schools at No. 92.

Bert Sperling, coordinator of the survey and president of Sperling’s Best Places, which analyzes data about people and places, said the study measures the amount of information and services that on-campus health facilities provide students.

More than 9,000 students responded to the online survey stating how likely they were to use campus health services.

“I think it’s a great resource for health centers to compare their services with others across the United States,” Sperling said.

Goddard on safe sex

Maggie Pool, health promotion coordinator for Goddard Health Center who declined to be interviewed, said in an e-mail that abstinence is the only completely effective protection when asked about some of the most effective contraceptive methods. She said condoms provide some protection.

Pool said the decision to use birth control is completely individualized and based on a patient’s specific circumstances.

“It is important to remember that some methods of birth control do not provide protection from sexually transmitted diseases,” Pool said in the e-mail.

Cut-rate contraceptives

Some cheap contraceptives are available on campus.

As part of Planned Parenthood’s “Protection Connection,” an initiative to give free condoms to anyone interested, condoms are available daily in the Health and Exercise Sciences Center.

The bucket of free condoms was placed a few years ago, after Dennison spoke at classes about safe sex and handed out free condoms.

“I just left the extra ones on a table, and they disappeared right away,” Dennison said. “Then I started getting calls and people were asking me for more free condoms.”

Dennison, who teaches as an adjunct for a human sexuality class, fills up the bucket once or twice. It was an informal decision to have the bucket, and he thinks some people come into the building specifically for the condoms.

“Research shows, if you charge money for condoms, condom use goes down,” Dennison said. “When condoms are free and easy to get, they are more likely to be used.”

Dennison said Planned Parenthood had distributed more than 1 million condoms, excluding the ones given to other student organizations through grants.

“The consequences of unprotected sex can be so high, and we believe that it is important to offer [condoms],” he said.

The organization prescribed birth control pills to about 2,050 patients in western and central Oklahoma last year and more than 8,000 patients came in just for contraceptives, said Terry Dennison, director of education services for Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood clinics also offer two types of tests for women looking to stay sexually healthy, said medical assistant Lupe Stumblingbear.

The first type, a Pap smear test, costs $150 without a screening for human papilloma virus, which is strongly connected with cervical cancer, Stumblingbear said.

The HOPE test is another type and costs $60 for an office visit, pregnancy test and consultation. For an additional $15 a birth control prescription is included, Stumblingbear said.

Other local stores, such as the Wal Mart pharmacy, offer generic birth control prescriptions for $9 a package or a 28-day prescription for $27, said Cassidy Doctorman, a pharmacy technician at the Wal Mart on Interstate Drive.

Dennison said the effectiveness of birth control depends on the patient’s ability to follow directions.

“If they can’t remember to take a pill, then it probably isn’t the best form of control,” Dennison said.

Why people use contraceptives

People who either aren’t ready for parenthood or want space in between their children use contraceptives, Dennison said. He believes his organization’s program is preventing abortions by helping patients plan for the birth of their children.

“Contraceptives give them the opportunity to focus on what they’re doing without the additional responsibility of having a child,” he said.