A healthy lesson

A BIG pram will be pushed around the York College campus on Wednesday. There will be no baby inside, just lots of packets of cigarettes. Well that's the plan anyway. "The pram will be a cigarette creche for the day and we will be babysitting the students' cigarettes," says Kay Ford, the college's new health promotion adviser.

"Hopefully at the end of the day, some students will decide to quit. And if they want to, we could set up a support group," adds her colleague Riitta Hanson.

The pair dreamt up the pram stunt as part of their effort to publicise No Smoking Day on Wednesday.

Their novel approach reflects a fresh enthusiasm for a job they have only been doing for a few weeks. Kay and Riitta, who share the job, are bursting with enthusiasm at the challenge of creating the college's first health promotion service, which aims to raise awareness and give information and guidance on a range of health and welfare issues of concern to young people.

Another factor spurring them on is that the project only has funding until July, so if it is to continue they have to make an impact. Fast.

But so far, so good. The response from students has been encouraging with many saying the service is long overdue.

"It's great students have somewhere to turn to," says Natalie Pulleyn, 17, who is training to be a beauty therapist. "Many of my friends say they will use the service."

Information technology students Neil Barnes and Alan Brocklebank, both 18, are equally positive.

"They are not here to replace your GP or the hospital, but here if you need to talk to somebody," says Neil. "It's a good idea. I'm surprised this service hasn't been offered before," adds Alan.

James Wainwright, student liaison officer for York College, which has 3,500 full-time students, says the service is a welcome extension of the college's welfare arm.

"Lots of students come to the students' union for advice on a range of things but one thing that was missing was somewhere to refer them to if they had health issues," he says. "There is definitely a need for this service. It's a great opportunity to be proactive."

Although Riitta and Kay are trained nurses, they will not be carrying out any hands-on health care. Instead, they will be running an advisory service about everything from emergency contraception and eating disorders, to drug and alcohol problems and sexually transmitted disease - a growing problem among young people.

Tips on dental health, how to check yourself for testicular or breast cancer and how to find a GP, dentist or optician will also be available.

Or if a student wants information about an illness or problem affecting a friend or relative, Kay and Riitta can give advice or direct them to other sources of help.

They will be running a daily drop-in service based at both college sites in Tadcaster Road as well as taking roadshows into the classroom to talk to youngsters about health issues.

Kay says: "We are not here to replace their GP. But, for example, someone could come to us if they were anxious about making an appointment at the family planning service. We could make it for them or take them there if they didn't want to go on their own."

Promoting safe sex and the importance of sexual health is a key task for the team, given the steep rise in cases of sexually-transmitted diseases among young people.

"Sexual health is a big issue today," says Riitta. "There's been a rise in cases of chlamydia. York has an above-average rate."

While young people may read about these issues in their magazines, Kay and Riitta say they hope their work supports this basic knowledge and gives young people the chance to ask questions.

Kay wonders if the rise in sexually-transmitted diseases could be linked to the price of condoms, which are now expensive.

"But if you go to a family planning clinic, they are free, and everything gets explained to them," she says.

They stress that all contact is treated in the strictest of confidence, just as it would be the doctor's or family planning clinic.

Riitta says: "We are not going to go to their parents, GP or tutor - but we will encourage them to talk to their parents because it is important they are there for them."

Kay adds: "There is a lot of anxiety around issues such as confidentiality. People think we are going to tell their mum, or someone might see them going to their doctor and think it's for something else. It is important students build up a relationship with their family doctor and, perhaps, we can take some of the fear out of what happens."

The nature of the work makes it difficult to assess whether the college students benefit from the health messages being made available.

Kay says: "You never really know with any health promotion work what impact you have. If you deliver something in a tutorial session and a light bulb goes on later and that student goes and gets help, you will never know the outcome, but you have got to say it's worthwhile."

Updated: 09:28 Monday, March 11, 2002