Visiting the Clinic
As anxious young people are waiting to be tested for HIV and STIs at the clinic, a spontaneous dance party erupts.
For all videos:
- What did you see in the video?
- What do you think this video was about?
- What stood out to you most in this video?
- What are some benefits of visiting a clinic regularly?
For this video:
- How can students be encouraged to visit their local clinic?
- Is there anything about a medical office that makes you nervous?
- How can we get to a point where visiting a clinic is as normal as going to school?
Materials needed: access to internet (computer/phone), paper, pen/pencil
Step 1.
Tell students that they will use a computer or their personal phones to practice searching for a clinic and finding out what services they offer. Write the following websites on the board:
Step 2.
Tell them to write the services and resources they offer down in their notebooks for future reference. They must explore/search through at least one of the websites to find out the following:
- Name, address, phone number, and hours of operation of one or two local clinics
- A list/description of all the services provided at the clinic(s)
- Instructions on how to get to the clinic(s) from your school
Step 3.
Students should write down what they find out (tell them they’ll need this info for a later assignment). At the end of the activity, ask them to volunteer to answer questions like:
- Were the websites easy to navigate through?
- Other than clinic locations, what other information does this website offer?
- What is something you liked/disliked about the website you chose?
- How could the website improve?
- Which clinic(s) did you find are the most local to our school?
- What services does that clinic offer?
- What did you like about this activity?
- How is it helpful to know this type of information?
- Will you share these websites with anyone?
Materials needed: poster paper, colored pencils, markers, rulers
Step 1.
Tell students to work in pairs to create a poster that encourages students to visit their student-based health/wellness center on campus or at a local clinic. Assign each pair a clinic they learned about and tell them to work together to design a creative poster that must include a catchy heading, reference to CA Minor Consent Law, location and hours of their assigned clinic, list of services that are provided at their assigned clinic, a map and/or instructions that describes how to get there from school, and related drawings/images.
Step 2.
Ask pairs to take turns to present their poster to the class and/or post them around the room and have them do a gallery walk to observe each one. Have them vote for their favorite poster, per clinic. Get the winning posters mass-printed into flyers and posters and post around campus for all students to see.
Materials needed: List of local clinics with their phone numbers (could be clinics that are a bit out of their area just to give them a variety of locations to call), copies of appointment worksheet:
Step 1.
On the board or overhead screen, write each of the following scenarios:
- Make an appointment for Birth Control
- Make an appointment for a Pregnancy Test
- Make an appointment for a STD/STI exam
- Make an appointment for a Pregnancy Option Counseling session
- Make an appointment for a Gynecological Exam (Pap Smear)
- Make an appointment for a Sports Physical
Step 2.
Tell the class that you’d like to model how a clinic appointment should be made. Ask the class to brainstorm a few things that the caller should do and keep in mind while making a call for an appointment. Write the students’ responses on the board. Help them out if they get stuck and/or don’t include important ones: have a paper and pen/pencil ready, speak in a calm/slow/clear voice; use a greeting such as “Hi,” “Hello,” “Good Morning,” “ Good Afternoon;” be polite; know and prepare to give a contact phone number; prepare to look at a calendar with your availability; say “please” and “thank you”; ask for the name of the person you spoke to (in case you need to make reference to it later); ask them to explain anything that you don’t understand; don’t be embarrassed/afraid to ask anything that’s on your mind; write things down to make note of what’s being said to you.
Step 3.
Ask a student to volunteer to actually call a local clinic to make an appointment in front of class. If you have a speaker, connect their phone to it so that everyone can clearly hear the conversation they’ll have or just simply ask the student to use speaker phone. If no one volunteers, tell them that you will make the phone call to model it for them. Students must listen attentively to make mental notes of what they hear.
Step 4.
After the practice appointment conversation, ask the class to share what they heard and what stood out to them. Ask them if they have any questions and clear things up for them.
Step 5.
Next, assign students into groups of four. Give each student a copy of the Appointment Worksheet. Tell students that they will have 15-20 minutes to practice making their own appointment with each other to experience the process and get comfortable for future need. Each group member must select one of the scenarios above and select one of the local clinics to call. Tell them that they must take turns by using their own cell phones and they should listen attentively to each other. Encourage them to put their phones in speaker mode so that everyone in the group can hear both ends of the conversation.
Step 6.
Once each student completes their appointment conversation, they must fill out Parts A-C of their worksheet. All other listening group members must fill out Part D of their worksheet. When everyone is done (about 15 minutes), bring them all back together to ask them to share their experience:
- How do you feel about your appointment conversation?
- Was it more or less difficult than you thought? Why?
- Do you think that this activity was helpful in preparing you for a real future appointment?
Step 7.
Collect their worksheets for class credit.