Editor’s Note: This is the fourth installment in a five-day series exploring the status of women at the University. Friday’s story will discuss minority women’s issues.

When it comes to sexual health awareness, a surprising array of knowledge exists on campus, a Health Center employee said.

“When I do programs on campus, for some it’s the first time they’ve ever seen a pack of birth control pills or condoms,” said Katy Janousek, sexual health coordinator. “When I go into classrooms and do lectures, it’s typically for a women’s studies class, and students tend to be pretty familiar” with sexual health care.

Students enter the University with different backgrounds of sex education in schools, and sometimes working with freshmen and sophomore females in residence halls is “a shock,” she said.

“People always ask me what’s the craziest thing I’ve heard or seen, and it’s not how radical or obscure something is but how badly people lack knowledge,” Janousek said. “I’ll always remember at one meeting a girl looking at a vagina model and asked if the tampon goes in the same hole the baby comes out.”

Janousek said she then incorporated more about anatomy and menstruation in her presentations.

“Sometimes RAs request programs in the dorms, and I bring all the different types of birth control, penis and vagina models to let women touch and see” how to use condoms and other contraceptives, she said.

“They can ask questions in a safe space with peers.”

Janousek is tailoring her program to include more details on oral sex, because a 2007 survey issued by the Health Center revealed only 1.3 percent of sexually active students used condoms during oral sex.

“There’s a lack of understanding about the transfer of STIs [sexually transmitted infections] during oral sex,” she said.

Her department will post facts about oral sex on bus cards and in residence halls.

Students tell Janousek they worry about confidentiality when it comes to Plan B and contraceptives.

“I spend a lot of time with students in residence halls, and some of their biggest concerns are billing to parents,” Janousek said.

Confidentiality is key to the women’s clinic.

“Students may be hesitant because we’re on campus and think the administration can ask for records, but they cannot,” said Carol McGinnis, manager of the women’s clinic. “Everything is held very confidential, and the only way for anyone else to get records is if the patient signs the records out.”

The most used service at the women’s clinic – and at centers on campuses nationwide – is the annual gynecological exam.

The University’s exam includes a Pap smear and checks for anemia, chlamydia and gonorrhea.

“We offer a good deal of contraceptives with the pill, the patch, the ring, the injection and IUD [Intrauterine Device],” McGinnis said. “We offer treatment for HPV and recommend the Guardasil vaccine.”

Officials at other schools said female students regularly schedule exams and request birth control pills.

The Virginia Elson Student Health Center provides “treatment and evaluation of all gynecologic clinical problems, and colposcopy services for evaluating abnormal Pap smears,” health center Director James Turner said by e-mail.

Clemson University offers gynecological visits and prescribes birth control pills, said Judy Leroy, director of nursing.

The University of Texas’ Women’s Health Clinic gives exams and birth control assistance, said Sherry Bell, consumer education and outreach coordinator.

A Pap smear at the University Health Center costs $52, and the annual exam costs $100. Insurance coverage is determined on a person-by-person basis.

“We’re not a participating provider,” said Shannon Kuykendall, business manager for the Health Center. “We use Pierce and Pierce (a student insurance company) and networks with added benefits, but HMOs don’t pay anything so we don’t even file with them.”

UT accepts the school’s student and employee health insurance plans, Bell said.

Clemson also accepts Pierce and Pierce. But, Leroy said, the Women’s Clinic’s services are inexpensive for students. She said it is cheaper for most students to pay for services at the Women’s Clinic than to use their insurance at another doctor’s office.

UVA accepts the school’s endorsed plan for students, and the plan for employees. “Students with other insurance plans need to pay at the time of service but can file claims with their own insurance,” Turner said.

Janousek, who “literally jumped up and down on my bed with excitement” when she became sexual health coordinator, said sex education for women is a priority.

“I think the reason I enjoy teaching sexual health is every single person has a component of sexuality,” she said.