Colleen Kelly

Health Enhancement

Services

Name: Colleen Kelly

Age: 20

Major: Nursing

Occupation: Member of the Student Wellness Awareness Team (SWAT) through the Health Enhancement Service at the Health Center.

What does your job entail?

There are basically three jobs I have with the Health Enhancement Service. The one I initially applied for was to work at the resource center in the Holmes Student Center. There I answer questions and give out pamphlets on stress, drugs and alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases – all kinds of things.

Each week there is a different topic and every day there is a new health-related question too. By answering these questions students get coupons for free hugs and can also be in a raffle for free HSC movie tickets at the end of each week.

The resource center is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and I work between four and eight hours there a week.

After I got that job I was asked if I would like to be an instructor for gynocology pre-session classes. Any girl who wants to start birth control through the Health Center must go to one of these two hour classes. Within that time I talk about the reproductive system and STDs, show and demonstrate contraceptives, show movies on STDs and AIDs, and show how a breast exam is done on a model!

My third job is working at checkpoints at all the dorms and at University Plaza. At a checkpoint, which is set up by the cafeterias at dinner time, we hand out health pamphlets and ask students questions like “what’s the most wide spread STD at NIU?” For answering these questions (right or wrong) we give them coupons. We just want to get them to think about health problems.

Checkpoints can get really busy and we can have 150 people come by within two hours. If there’s only two of us working it can get hectic.

What do you like the best about your job?

There are a lot of responsibilities – that’s my favorite part of the job. In the pre-session classes I like having the girls be comfortable with me and having enough trust in me to ask questions. I’ve had people come up to me outside of class and ask me things. That makes me feel good.

What do you like the least about your job?

The responsibilities. They can also be the worst part of my job. I also don’t like it when girls don’t trust me – when they’re not comfortable with someone their own age talking to them about birth control.

Do you have any favorite on-the-job anecdotes?

In the pre-session classes I have to demonstrate how stretchy a condom really is. While I’m talking I roll one down over my hand. Once I was wearing a ring and it split the condom right in half. This happened right after I got done saying how strong condoms are. I tried another one and the same thing happened! That’s when I pulled out the cucumber.

Why did you choose this job?

I thought it would be interesting, especially because of my interest in the health field. I’ve learned a lot doing my job. It’s not a job for everyone either. You have to be a good speaker, have good communication skills and not be embarrassed or squeamish about the information. You have to take the work seriously.

How do you think your job benefits NIU students?

People are pretty sexually active at Northern. There’s a lot of things guys and girls should be more aware of. I think it would benefit more, however, if the service were more readily available.