Synthesis of Cleveland Public Health Department Capstone

     After completing the Capstone experience within the Cleveland Public Health Department's Reproductive health clinics (Thomas McCafferty and J Glenn Smith), I feel confident that I received an excellent public health experience. I was extremely apprehensive prior to beginning the Capstone experience, mostly because I didn't know what type of facility I would be at. It was a perfect placement for me and my interests in the public health area of nursing.
     I would like to share some of the most interesting and memorable experiences I had at the reproductive health clinic, as I feel that it best commemorates and explains my Capstone. I had a wide variety of patients. For example, I had a 14 year old African American girl who came in for STD testing with her 19 year old boyfriend. They were both positive for chlamydia and trichomoniasis. Both of those STD's are very common and easily treatable. However, the main issue is that the nurse practitioner was required to report them, as she was under-age and admitted to sexual intercourse with her "boyfriend" of 1 month. She also reported being raped at 13. She refused birth control because she stated that she was "trying to get pregnant." She was not open to counseling and ignored our education that we provided regarding safe sex practices. I also had a 17 year old Hispanic girl who also needed reported to Job and Family Services. She tested positive for pregnancy, syphilis, trichomoniasis, gonorrhea, herpes, and chlamydia. She stated that in the past month she had been with 5 different sexual partners. This indicates sex-trafficking, according to what the nurse practitioner told me. Both of these young girls complete disregard for their health, emotionally, spiritually, and physically really struck me. It was devastating to let them leave and go back out into society.
     On the other hand, I had several patients who were in for their "annual" STD check-up, and they tested clean. There are many people who practice safe sex and do receive annual or bi-annual testing for STDs. For example, there was a young gentleman who comes to the clinic every year (or when he has a new sexual partner) and he has tested clean continually. This impressed me, because many college students (including myself) are usually too scared to get STD tested- not many people even know much about it. Even after learning about STDs in nursing school, I definitely did not know half as much as I do now.
     I also had a 77 year old African American man who had some fun in Vegas for his birthday- a little too much fun! He was positive for gonorrhea. It proved to me that no matter what age, if you are sexually active (and not monogamous) you need to continually receive STD testing. Most STDs are curable, and all are treatable. Without treatment, most STDs can be extremely detrimental to your health. I found that this experience not only benefitted my personal knowledge and health regarding STDs, but I really felt that I was able to help the public by providing treatment and education regarding STDs, pregnancy, and other ailments.