Seductive Delusions: High School Students & STDs

[HTML1] Americans will suffer 19 million new sexually transmitted infections this year, and the majority of these cases are among 15-to-24-year-olds, as half of high school students participate in sexual activity.  And to bring those statistics a little closer to home, San Antonio, Texas, for example, has the unenviable honor of ranking 11th out of America’s 50th largest metropolitan areas for its rate of chlamydia cases.

Sexually transmitted disease and STD prevention education both start at home. However, San Antonio’s North East Independent School District is determined to make a difference among their 66,000 students, with the appropriately named Big Decisions program, Human Sexuality and Abstinence Education. And they’re incorporating an award-winning book on STDs into this proactive, positive curriculum. Joining us today to discuss Big Decisions at the North East ISD is Rachel Naylor, Assistant Director for Physical Education, Health and Athletics; her colleague, Melissa Munsell, instructional specialist for health and PE; District Superintendent Dr. Richard Middleton, Ph.D.; and family practice physician Dr. Jill Grimes, the author of the book they chose, Seductive Delusions: How Everyday People Catch STD’s.

Segment A (0:00 – 11:00)
Life Love & Health: Special Edition executive producer Christopher Springmann discusses STD prevention education with Dr. Jill Grimes, family practice physician author of Seductive Delusions; joined by Rachel Naylor, Assistant PE Director and Melissa Munsell, Health & PE Instructional Specialist, both of the North East Independent School District in San Antonio, TX

Segment B (11:01 – 22:00)
Dr. Jill Grimes with Dr. Richard Middleton, Ph.D., Superintendent of the North East Independent School District

Segment C (22:01 – 33:00)
Dr. Jill Grimes

More about Jill Grimes
Jill Grimes, M.D., is a board-certified family practice physician a leading expert in sexually transmitted diseases, and the author of Seductive Delusions: How Everyday People Catch STDs. Dr. Grimes is in private practice at West Lake Family Practice and works intermittently at the University of Texas Health Services at Austin. She is also a clinical faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and an associate editor for the 5-Minute Clinical Consult textbook. In her practice, Dr. Grimes became aware of patients’ “seductive delusions” about safe sex and their ongoing shock that STDs could happen to them. She collected their stories as the foundation for her book and presentations. An articulate, lively speaker with a broad knowledge of young people’s sexual practices, Dr. Grimes is comfortable discussing taboo health topics without judgment, and clearing up common misconceptions about sexually transmitted diseases in language that laypeople can readily understand.

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About Christopher Springmann

Christopher Springmann is Executive Producer and Senior Correspondent of Life, Love and Health, the award-winning health and wellness program that reaches millions daily on multiple news, talk and sports channels including Sirius XM, CNN, FOX, NPR affiliates, American Forces Network, and HealthRadio.net.

Life, Love and Health is also Mr. Springmann’s latest endeavor in a journey of “creative convergence” that started as a photographer for Time, Fortune, National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines. He moved into writing leadership profiles for Chief Executive and California CEO magazines, which in turn provided the inspiration for creating Life, Love and Health: to fulfill the unmet need of telling America’s health story. Mr. Springmann meets this need in entertaining and emotionally engaging ways, with the authentic voices of real people, including a diverse group of doctors and nurses, patients and their families, plus researchers and innovators in the health-and-wellness field. He relies on the credibility and persuasiveness of people’s passionate storytelling to get the point across. People identify with the experiences of others and are encouraged to take positive, attainable actions to improve their personal and family health.

Christopher is also the Host of Life, Love and Health on WomensRadio. Life, Love and Health seeks to ultimately make a difference in people’s lives by encouraging individuals to take positive, attainable actions to improve their personal and family health.