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Research Question: Four

Planned Parenthood

One misconception about the serves at Planned Parenthood is that they only serve to women but they also serve to men as well. So I wanted to know what all is offered by Planned Parenthood?

Planned Parenthood offers STI screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.Counseling and testing for HIV, Condoms, Counseling and referrals for free or low-cost Vasectomy for men.

But not only this but educations programs and more are offered to men as well like Erectile Dysfunction Education,Erectile Dysfunction Referrals, Erectile Dysfunction Exam, Erectile Dysfunction Treatment, Jock Itch Exam and Treatment, Male Infertility Screening and Referral, Premature Ejaculation Education, Premature Ejaculation Referrals, Premature Ejaculation Exam, Premature Ejaculation Treatment, Testicular and Prostate Cancer Screening. 

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The Agency

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood is nonprofit organization founded October 16, 1916  by  Margaret Sanger, Ethel Byrne, and Fania Mindell . Making Planned Parenthood a 101 years old and now operates more than 600 health centers across the United States and 22 of them are in Milwaukee. Planned Parenthood gets federal funding.  Most of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding is from Medicaid reimbursements for preventive care, and some is from Title X. There’s no keep-Planned-Parenthood-running part of the federal budget. “Defunding” comes in: At least  60% of Planned Parenthood patients rely on public health programs like Medicaid and Title X for their preventive and primary care. So, when you hear extreme politicians talking about “defunding” Planned Parenthood, they really mean blocking patients who rely on public health care programs from getting their care at Planned Parenthood centers Legislation that “defunds” Planned Parenthood immediately blocks patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers.

There is a fluctuating number of volunteers throughout the year, due to the increase of demand during election periods. 

My first impression where pretty good, i loved the building, the people and the hard work that they were doing everyday that I volunteered 

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Research Questions: Three

Planned Parenthood

During my training we had to learn about the anatomy and physiology of the male and female body and although I was only training with one other, I learned it is common and kind of instilled in our society that a women genital is called “The Vagina” when the actual vagina is just a small part of it all.

So I want to know what other misconceptions are about the vulva? Do people know the vulva actual is?

Even by simply looking up through google “misconceptions about the vulva” there are hundreds if not thousands of articles that refer to the vulva as the vagina. “How well do you know your vagina”, “7 misconceptions about vaginas”, “10 flat-out lies about vaginas you need to stop believing”. It is possible that some of these article are talking about the vagina directly but most are talking about the vulva or the entirety of the female genital as a whole and not just one specific part.  

Even in health class back when I was in high school the word vulva was never brought up. The female genital was just referred to the vagina and later on all the different parts were explained.

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Research Question: Two

Planned Parenthood

When I was looking up directions to find Planned Parenthood's Head Quarters I was surprised to see that the building was listed as permanently closed. So I went to the nearest Planned Parenthood on Water Street and noticed a sign/billboard with a picture of a fetus and writing with something along the lines of murder. I went in and they told me to go the original location I had looked up, and they told me that “I can’t trust google nowadays”.

So my question is if this place of business is still open how come every time I look it up it keeps coming up that it is permanently closed?

When I arrived to the Planned Parenthood on Jackson St, I brought up this question to security in the waiting room and they told me protesters have been doing making any and all effects to try and bring Planned Parenthood down because this building originally made in 1935 had a abortion clinic on the fourth floor, but not until just recently they moved the clinic to the new building on Water St. ( hence the sidewalk sign)

But the guy at security had been working with Planned Parenthood for some years now and could tell you the name of each person who was protesting on what day and at what time. But legally can not come onto the property or the building and that line stops at the side walk. There have also been incidents where these protesters would bring along their children to be with them. just playing in the front. 

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Service Journal : Six

June 13th, 2018

4 hours served

Jump start: Training Program

This training program is meant for new staff to be properly trained but it never hurts to know what to say professionally in a situation where questioned are asked about reproductive health in general and where Planned Parenthood stands in the thick of it. This is a three day training program.

Because of school, I only got the last 4 hours of Wednesday’s training and it was actually the last day of training . I missed the training on cultural competency, youth and LGBTQ+ , but I was there to learn about the mandatory reporting of minors, screening for interpersonal violence otherwise known as (IPV) or domestic violence and sexual assault, and human trafficking. 

I also learned about professionalism, managing challenging questions and self-care. My favorite part about that day was learning about S.O.Y, which stands for some people...., other people..., and you?  a tactic to trying to answer difficult questions 

I also liked reading off possible situations where reporting may need to come into action. Also I enjoy the lesson on  helping vs rescuing. Phrases like, “ When I function as a helper and feel responsible TO other” verses “When I function as a rescuer and fell responsible FOR others”. The word “to” and “for” really made a lot of difference when trying to guide someone.

I think the most challenging thing for me to learn that day was self-care, because personally I am not very good at that so when it came to my turn to answer how I was going to take care of myself in order to be the at my best in the job, I struggled but I learned about taking breaks, going to have lunch, and treating myself to small little things will help me better at being professional 

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Service Journal : Five

June 12th, 2018

7 hours served

Jump Start: Training Program

This training program is meant for new staff to be properly trained but it never hurts to know what to say professionally in a situation where questions are asked about reproductive health in general and where Planned Parenthood stands in the thick of it. This is a three day training program.

Because of school, I only got the first 7 even hours of training on Tuesday, but I learned about holistic sexuality and values, abortion services, and then counseling on the ten best practices of contraceptive and STI’s.

I thought I knew all the STI’s but turns out there was a few I didn’t know about, for example Scabies and Trichomoniasis. Scabies are kind of like human flees and Trichomoniasis is a vaginal infection also known as trich.

I think my favorite part of this days training was going over pregnancy plans, simplifying the choice process of picking a method of birth control. Making sure to as open ended questions , making sure to ask if the patient is first planning a pregnancy in the next year. And if they are not then start explaining the three groups/methods Planned Parenthood had made to make the processes easier to help guide for a person.

I think that the most challenging part of that days training was practicing  establishing trustworthiness, expertise, and accessibility. And going over it with a partner as if we were the patients talking to a nurse and vice versa .

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Service Journal: Four

June 11th, 2018

4 hours served

Jump Start : Training Program 

This training program is meant for new staff to be properly trained but it never hurts to know what to say professionally in a situation where questioned are asked about reproductive health in general and where Planned Parenthood stands in the thick of it. This is a three day training program.

Because of school, I only got the last 4 hours of Monday's training. But I did learn Sexual Education 101, we cover the five circles of human sexuality, the reproductive anatomy of the male and female body, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and abortion, medication abortion and surgical abortion. Then we discussed Sex Ed II that covered an intro to birth control methods, pregnancy testing services and sexually transmitted infections.

I really enjoyed the activities that called us to get up from our seats and be active in learning like labeling parts of the vulva or organizing cards that matched with stages of pregnancy and when abortion can take place through Planned Parenthood or at least in Wisconsin.

I think one of my biggest challenges of that day was during an activate where we were “forced” to assign parenting, abortion or adoption to hypothetical situations of women who have become pregnant. I  was hard because in a situation like that it is not up to anyone else but the women who is pregnant to decide what she wants to do with her baby.

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Service Journal: Three

June 10th, 2018

8 hours served

Pridefest: Tabling

I was at Pridefest at 11 am again an hour before opening to help set up the table for Planned Parenthood in the health and wellness center. I laid out a table cloth that had the Planned Parenthood logo and tag lines so people walking by would know what our booth was representing. I  then began to organize items to put on the table that was completely free.

These Items included, pins/buttons that had this years Proud Design and name and logo of the company, pink car bumper stickers that said “ I stand with Planned Parenthood”, two stickers, one with the new proud design logo and one sticker with the PP name, temporary tattoos each had the Planned Parenthood's logo but behind each logo was a flag that stood for something, for example we had the asexual flag, bisexual flag, trans flag and two pride rainbow flag tattoos that came in two different sizes, blue lanyards that said I(heart) Planned Parenthood and a packet of two condoms that came with a packet of lube and instructions.

On the last we had no more pens, sunglasses, or window clings. We were almost out of buttons/pins and condoms. It wasn’t until later in the day we got some of these item restocked (before they were gone again). 

Along with all this free items there was also an arrange of new, up-to-date literature from brochures to cards. There was a Health Service Guide brochure, two cards, one card feature the services provided by Planned Parenthood and were you can make a appoint or otherwise a place to go for questions and how to get involved, the other card feature was a safe sex text line, mainly targeted towards a younger demographic, but provides a 24 hour text line that is completely anonymous  where you can ask any question that you have and get a response within 24 hours but this text line is not a hotline where you a immediate answer. We also put out a brochure that tells you seven ways you can help Planned Parenthood

There was also a sign up sheet placed in front of all the brochures and cards, for people who were interested in getting updates on Planned Parenthood, including information on legislation and volunteer opportunities 

We kept the shirts organized in the boxes we packed them up in the day before to keep it all separated and in one place. But on this day we managed to sell at least two shirts. 

I volunteered with a few different people the last day, one person was actual an intern for Planned Parenthood for awhile, another person was only 14 years old who wanted to help out. 

I learned more about the people who work at Planned Parenthood, from education departments, that included the youth , and the different organizers from different parts of Milwaukee. 

I think the only trouble I ran into was not having to tell people that we didn’t have anymore items to give away because they had ran out.  Plus it was a very rainy day so that made things a little difficult to sell shirts they way we were the previous two days. 

Because it was the last day at Pridefest we closed up at 7 instead of 8 pm and we took everything left over to HQ instead of leaving at the grounds. 

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Service Journal: Two

June 9th, 2018

9 hours served

Pridefest: Tabling

I was at Pridefest at 11 am  about an hour before opening to help set up the table for Planned Parenthood in the health and wellness center. I laid out a table cloth that had the Planned Parenthood logo and tag lines so people walking by would know what our booth was representing. I then began to organize items to put on the table that was completely free.

These Items included, pink pens with the Planned Parenthood’s name and logo, pins/buttons that had this years Proud Design and name and logo of the company, pink car bumper stickers that said “ I stand with Planned Parenthood”, pink wind clings that said the same thing as the bumper sticker, two stickers, one with the new proud design logo and one sticker with the PP name, temporary tattoos each had the Planned Parenthood's logo but behind each logo was a flag that stood for something, for example we had the asexual flag, bisexual flag, trans flag and two pride rainbow flag tattoos that came in two different sizes, pink and white with purple handles sunglasses that featured the company’s name on the outside of the handles, blue lanyards that said I(heart) Planned Parenthood and a packet of two condoms that came with a packet of lube and instructions.

Although we ran out of sunglasses and were almost out of pens because the day before those two items were the most popular. So I put out what we had. And just waited to get more back at the head quarters from one of the staff members. 

Along with all this free items there was also an arrange of new, up-to-date literature from brochures to cards. There was a Health Service Guide brochure, two cards, one card feature the services provided by Planned Parenthood and were you can make a appoint or otherwise a place to go for questions and how to get involved, the other card feature was a safe sex text line, mainly targeted towards a younger demographic, but provides a 24 hour text line that is completely anonymous  where you can ask any question that you have and get a response within 24 hours but this text line is not a hotline where you a immediate answer. I also put out a brochure that tells you seven ways you can help Planned Parenthood

There was also a sign up sheet placed in front of all the brochures and cards, for people who were interested in getting updates on Planned Parenthood, including information on legislation and volunteer opportunities.

We kept the shirts organized in the boxes we packed them up in the day before to keep it all separated and in one place. But on this day we managed to sell at least five shirts. 

On this day I learned about the amount of volunteers Planned Parenthood is going to need in November due to upcoming local elections. One person I worked with also volunteered at the HRC, or the Human Rights Campaign. Another person I worked with actual helped with campaigning for Obama in 2008. And I thought it was really cool, to be working along side these people.

So my challenge for the day was to try not to push people to sign up on our sign sheet just solely based on the fact that they will also get updates on legislation. 

After the day was done we packed up at 8 pm and I helped clean up our booth and get organized for the last day of Pridefest.

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Service Journal: One

Planned Parenthood

June 8th, 2018 

8 hours served

Pridefest: Tabling

I was at Pridefest a hour before opening to help set up the table for Planned Parenthood in the health and wellness center. We laid out a table cloth that had the Planned Parenthood logo and tag lines so people walking by would know what our booth was representing. We then began to organize items to put on the table that was completely free. 

These Items included, pink pens with the Planned Parenthood’s name and logo, pins/buttons that had this years Proud Design and name and logo of the company, pink car bumper stickers that said “ I stand with Planned Parenthood”, pink wind clings that said the same thing as the bumper sticker, two stickers, one with the new proud design logo and one sticker with the PP name, temporary tattoos each had the Planned Parenthood's logo but behind each logo was a flag that stood for something, for example we had the asexual flag, bisexual flag, trans flag and two pride rainbow flag tattoos that came in two different sizes, pink and white with purple handles sunglasses that featured the company’s name on the outside of the handles, blue lanyards that said I(heart) Planned Parenthood and a packet of two condoms that came with a packet of lube and instructions.

Along with all this free items there was also an arrange of new, up-to-date literature from brochures to cards. There was a Health Service Guide brochure, two cards, one card feature the services provided by Planned Parenthood and were you can make a appoint or otherwise a place to go for questions and how to get involved, the other card feature was a safe sex text line, mainly targeted towards a younger demographic, but provides a 24 hour text line that is completely anonymous  where you can ask any question that you have and get a response within 24 hours but this text line is not a hotline where you a immediate answer. We also put out a brochure that tells you seven ways you can help Planned Parenthood. 

There was also a sign up sheet for people who were interested in getting updates on Planned Parenthood, including information on legislation and volunteer opportunities.

On this day, I helped make condom packets and sell shirts. I folded up instruction sheets, put two condoms in each pack, as well as included a packet of lube, (it felt like hundreds). When it came to selling shirts we had two shirts, a tank top and T-shirts that had this years Proud design.

On this day, I learned more about how to talk about people who came up to the table, and if the had any questions. I answered it to the best of my ability as a volunteer, but there was always a staff person there to help answer any questions that I couldn’t . I learned for the most part everyone in the LGBTQ+ community that came up to the table was very supportive and positive. A lot of people said they love who were are, they work we do, some people even wanted to donate cash to our cause at the booth, but we just had to direct them to our website to donate because we do not take cash donations.

Overall this made me feel good that what I was doing was for a good cause and I was very happy throughout by day, even when was raining, there was music in the background always and people very happy and supportive of one another throughout the whole day.

I think the most challenging part of my day was dealing with people coming up with personal questions and I didn’t know how to proper answer them because I was only a volunteer, and I didn’t want to miss inform them.

The health and wellness center closed at 8 pm that day even though the summer fest grounds didn’t close til 11 pm,  and I helped clean up the booth before leaving for the day. 

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Mission Statements

Planned Parenthood 

Mission

Planned Parenthood works to educate and empower communities, provide quality health care, lead the reproductive rights movement, and advance global health. Planned Parenthood believes sexual and reproductive health rights are basic rights. 

What is my mission in life?

My mission in life is to be happy. I would like to find inner peace within myself, I want a happy and health relationship with my family and my husband. But Overall go through life being nonjudgmental and helpful to others in anyway I can in order to spread happiness as well.

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Research Question: One

Planned Parenthood

Initially my thought process for a research question surrounding Planned Parenthood was controversies attributed to PP. Upon looking it up simply on Google, I saw a lot of talk about abortion and politics, which lead me to the presidents presence in the Planned Parenthood community. I found many articles titled or related to "Trump-Pence administration attack on women's health care through a Gag Rule".

So my question is, what is the Gag Rule? What does it entail? Does it only effect women? If this rule is to pass what does it mean for Planned Parenthood?

So with further research I have found a article from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) that says the Gag Rule, "would aggressively block patients from receiving necessary guidance from medical professionals on reproductive health care by restricting federal funding to medical facilities that provide comprehensive information about their reproductive health care options, perform abortions or refer patients to facilities that do."

So in other Trump's Gag Rule states that he will cut off funding to health care facilities, Like Planned Parenthood, if they encourage/promote/direct women to abortion clinics or otherwise. Which in turn David Stacy, HRC Government Affairs Director, says “This is an unprecedented attack millions of women and LGBTQ people who rely on health care facilities, including Planned Parenthood, for reproductive health care".

This article also says the proposed Gag Rule would, 

1-Make it impossible for millions of patients to get birth control or preventative care from facilities like Planned Parenthood

2-Prevent health care workers from referring patients to facilities that provide safe and legal abortions 

3-Remove the guarantee that patients receive full and accurate information from their medical providers

work cited

Clymer, Charlotte. “Trump-Pence Administration Attacks Women's Health Care.” Human Rights Campaign, 18 May 2018, www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-responds-to-trump-pence-administrations-attack-on-womens-health-care.

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Community Service Blog

Hello,

My name is Catherine DeLonge, I am a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and for my first assignment in my service learning class is to find a volunteer place of my interest and conduct research, in order to serve 20-35 hours in my community.

And I am most interested in activities to promote health and wellness in Milwaukee.

I would like to serve at a blood drive or at any other medical facility like Medical College of Wisconsin or Planned Parenthood to promote health and wellness. In the past I have helped organize and volunteer with my high school and MIAD blood drives. I have been to a blood drive conferences in the past, so I am well informed on the topic. And I have a love for all things science.