Wellness services and health services teamed up to host Thanks, Birth Control! day on Nov. 16 as part of a broader attempt to bring reproductive healthcare access and education to Trinity students. The event focused on appreciation and education about birth control and offered students an array of merchandise including stickers, flyers and more.

John Meyer, family nurse practitioner and coordinator of health services, was one of the many people who helped organize the event alongside Donna Escobar, an on-staff nurse at health services. Meyer explained Thanks, Birth Control! day is a national event that wellness services and health services wanted to bring to campus.

“Celibacy is birth control. Using an app to track your cycle so that you don’t have sex when you’re most fertile is birth control. So it’s an opportunity for us to both educate people and be grateful that [birth control] is available to us in a lot of different forms for a lot of different types of people,” Meyer said.

According to Meyer, health services has recently contracted with Bettys Co., a company that can supplement reproductive health care that universities may be unable to provide. Bettys Co. CEO Jennifer Newell explained that her company focuses on Gen Z students and can provide virtual mental and physical health appointments to students out of state.

“We serve females from the period up to pregnancy planning in a comprehensive way. One thing that we do is a partner with colleges to be an on-campus provider as an extension of their existing clinical services. They brought us on site once a month or one week a month to provide long-term contraceptives like IUD and Nexplanon implants and removals, but we could also be that primary gynecologist for female students as well,” Newell said.

Bettys Co. can bridge the gap between what health services can offer and comprehensive reproductive healthcare. They discount their services for Trinity students and also take the student health insurance plan. In addition, they include virtual services for mental and physical health that even students who are from out of state can use.

First-years Faith Monsivais, prospective biochemistry and molecular biology major, and Kiara Fernando, prospective human resources management major, found out about the event through its advertisement on Leeroy. They said they found the event educational and described their thoughts on administration outreach regarding reproductive health care.

“I think there’s nothing wrong with ever adding more events for things, especially because awareness is so important and I feel like a lot of us are not well educated on it. I feel like every single time I go to one of these things, I learn a little bit more about being safe and healthcare,” Monsivais said.

“I think it’d be cool if they had these tables at the orientation things as well because I know they didn’t. Also, I would really love to have a Plan B vending machine,” Fernando said.