Sexual Health “Up North”

Northern (Lower Peninsula) Michigan is where people in Michigan go “Up North.” It’s where they visit to go hunting, fishing, boating, hiking, camping, beaching, tourist-ing, snowmobiling, and relaxing. It’s also home to around 640,000 year-round residents that are served by six local health departments which make up the Northern Michigan Public Health Alliance (NMPHA).

For more perspective: all of the 25 counties in Northern Michigan are defined as ‘rural’ by the Office of Management and Budget and they make up over 1/4 of Michigan’s 82 counties. Twenty-two of the 25 counties are below the state median household income level. More than half of the counties have higher rates of teen pregnancy than the State of Michigan rate. All but two of the counties have higher maternal smoking during pregnancy rates than the state average. And, 36,000 women aged 13-44 in the region are in need of publicly funded contraception. Yet, even with these statistics, most of the health departments have seen a decrease in Family Planning clients in recent years.

So, to rebrand and freshen up the stagnant sexual health and Family Planning messaging in the 25 county region, District Health Department #10 (DHD#10) and the NMPHA partnered with the Colorado Initiative to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy and Vermilion Marketing to brand Beforeplay.org as the Northern Michigan Campaign to Improve Reproductive Health. The goals of the campaign are to (1) help people think, talk and act about the way birth control, pregnancy and STDs impact their lives and future (2) encourage individuals to access sexual health services regardless of financial circumstances and (3) establish a brand voice that becomes a trusted, credible, and accessible, personable go-to resource. Anchored by the website Beforeplay.org, the campaign uses an age-appropriate tone to encourage young adults in Northern Michigan to take control of their sexual health by having constructive conversations and seeking out accurate information and resources from medical experts and health centers. Beforeplay.org gives young adults in both Colorado and Michigan information about where to get family planning services; ways to pay for those services; as well as help with how to have conversations about pregnancy, birth control and STDs/STIs with their partners, family, friends and medical professionals.

To further support the messaging of Beforeplay.org, the NMPHA took on a Phase 2 which includes a second Title X Family Planning Program Outreach Mini-Grant secured by the Health Department of Northwest Michigan. The grant project includes a multi-pronged approach to increasing use of family planning services including a Wear One condom distribution campaign and Sexual Health Ambassador program. The Wear One condom distribution campaign allows the six health departments to partner with businesses and agencies in their communities to be a known location where residents can pick up free packets of condoms. It brings the condoms to where people already are and increases awareness of other services the health departments provide. Additionally, 11 teens and young adults in the region were trained in sexual health to partner with their local health department to do outreach at events throughout the summer. We know that young people connect with young people so we’re putting a new (but more familiar) face to sexual health services in the region.

So while it has been a challenge to span a 25 county region and work with six local health departments to re-brand sexual health in Northern Michigan, we realize that we are in the infancy of this project and we will continue to strive towards our goal of making “Up North” not only a fun place to visit but also a safe and sexy place to live.