ESC Annual Report 2018

HEALTH & WELLNESS SOLUTIONS
a part of your community. We
are experts at what we do. We
are dedicated to protecting your
health. The Women’s Health and
Family Planning program is a
Success Story
I JUST HAD TWO
PARTNERS AND
CONTRACTED
SYPHILIS…
GET TESTED!
According to Missouri Family
Health Council’s 2016 needs
assessment; Missouri receive a F
rating on its reproductive health
report card. Missouri ranks 22nd
in the number of HIV diagnoses,
19th in rates of syphilis, 14th in
gonorrhea infections and 21st in
chlamydia infections.
In October of last year, Ms. Amber
noticed a sore in her genital area.
She was a bit concerned about it
but didn’t feel unwell so decided not
to go to the doctor for a couple of
weeks. The sore was large and slightly
painful. She scheduled her wellwoman
exam with Economic Security
Corporation’s Women Healthcare
and Family Planning Clinic. At her
Women’s Health and Family Planning
appointment, Donna White, the
Woman’s Health Nurse Practitioner,
completed her well woman exam.
This is when she found out that Donna
was 99 percent sure it was a Syphilis
Chancer because of the size and the
way it looked. But because it was
painful (Syphilis is normally painless)
there was a chance it could be Herpes.
The Nurse Practitioner drew her blood
to check for Syphilis and a culture was
done to check for herpes.
service strategy that impacts our
National Community Action goal of
“communities where people with
low incomes live are healthy and
offer economic opportunity.”
One week later ESC’s Women’s
Health Clinic contacted Ms. Amber
with the test results. These are
words you don’t want to hear. “You
have Syphilis and you must come to
the clinic to receive treatment and
meet with the Missouri Department
of Health’s Disease Investigator.”
She was mortified. Ms. Amber
hadn’t had multiple partners, so
she couldn’t understand how she
had contracted this disease.
The first thing she was told by the
Missouri State Sexually Transmitted
Disease (STD) Investigator was that
while Syphilis is most definitely
something to be taken seriously,
it’s fairly uncommon among
heterosexual women, and when
a heterosexual woman does test
positive for Syphilis that is an
indicator that there is an epidemic
and it has reached its peak.
Like many women, Ms. Amber had
little awareness of Syphilis. She
said we are taught in school sex
education class about the most
common STD’s like HIV, Chlamydia,
Gonorrhea, and Herpes. Nothing
was taught about Syphilis. This
disease is not new; it has been
around for 500 years.
Syphilis, a deadly sexually
transmitted infection that, may
damage the internal organs,
including the brain, nerves, eyes,
heart, blood vessels, liver, bones
and joints can lead to blindness,
paralysis and dementia if left
untreated.
Symptoms, painless sores and
ulcers, fever, muscle aches, swollen
lymph nodes or sore throat, as well
as a painless non-itchy rash that
spreads any all over the body.
These symptoms could easily
resemble other diseases. Ms.
Amber advice to friends and family
is to be aware. It is important to
pay attention to what’s happing
with your body and see someone
who specializes in sexual health and
STDs. If syphilis is caught early, it’s
totally curable with antibiotics, and
even in the later stages, while it may
be more difficult, it’s still curable.
It has been a long year, she just
completed her last follow-up blood
test; and is disease free with no longterm
damage. She is so grateful for
ESC’s Women’s Health and Family
Planning’s expertise and the quality
of care that she received.
So, how did Ms. Amber get this?
She doesn’t sleep around; she
had only one partner in the last
12 months, two partners in her
lifetime. She found out that she had
gotten it from her ex-partner now.
He was the one who had several
partners. Anyone can get syphilis!
Get tested!
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