At this year’s Traxside open day, local young people will have the opportunity to experience distorted vision through beer goggles, drum their worries away in a mindfulness drumming workshop and check out the Caddy Shack STI testing unit.
The fun starts at 10am on Thursday, April 14, and continues until 2pm at the home of Traxside – 4 Langdon Avenue, Campbelltown – as part of Youth Week.
Visitors will have the chance to check out the newly refurbished Traxside Youth Health Service and get to know about what services are available to them.
They can also take part in art projects and Yhunger activities focusing on nutrition.
The Caddy Shack, a mobile STI testing unit, will drop in to be part of the annual open day at Traxside.
The Caddy Shack provides free, on-site STI testing for young people 16 years and over.
Screening is confidential and young people with negative test results will be notified by SMS within a week.
Young people who test positive for chlamydia will be contacted by clinic staff for treatment.
As part of further Youth Week celebrations across the Macarthur district, a new interactive campaign promoting hepatitis C prevention to young people will also be launched.
The Blood Battles campaign includes a phone app and comic targeted at young people.
South Western Sydney Local Health District Hepatology Staff Specialist Dr Joe Lawler said every day nearly 10 hepatitis C infections were reported in NSW.
“Research shows that many people are unaware of the risks, so local young people created a comic and a fast-paced mobile phone game to get the message out,” Dr Lawler said.
“Hepatitis C is spread by blood to blood contact, so it’s important for everyone to be ‘blood aware’.
“Unsterile tattooing, piercing, injecting and steroid use are all risk factors for transmitting blood borne viruses.
“New and highly effective treatments for hepatitis C became available in Australia in March, which is great news for people living with hepatitis C.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“However, prevention is better than cure, so I applaud these young people for developing the Blood Battles project,” he said.[/social_quote]
Get Blood Battles free from the Apple App Store or Google Play from April 15.
Comics are available at youth health centres and other youth services or by calling 8738 5945.
The south west Sydney Blood Battles project was made possible by Hepatitis C Education and Prevention funding granted to South Western Sydney Local Health District.
