The Lieben Center for Women organized an informational session titled Female Health 101 on Nov. 9.

Physician assistant Theresa Abbott and registered nurse Sue Weston, who work at Creighton Student Health Services, gave a presentation on female healthcare and the importance of college women getting tests like the pap smear and the “well woman” exam early on in their lives.

“During these formative years we really want to teach women how to take care of themselves,” said Weston. “This is the time when you’re formulating habits and knowing your body and taking good care of it can really help you later in life.”

There was a Q&A session after the presentation where students voiced their queries relating to the female anatomy and sexually transmitted diseases.

“Female health is a topic that isn’t actively discussed in a lot of sex education courses,” said Arts and Sciences senior Katharine Goodwin, the education intern at the Lieben Center who was in charge of the event. “That’s why we decided to do this informational session — so women know what to expect when they go to a doctor’s office.”

Weston pointed out that not all Creighton students make the most of the health care resources available to them.

“It breaks my heart when I find out that students didn’t know there was a health center here,” said Weston. “We are a full service health center: We have full-time physicians, we have lab, we have X-ray and we have extended hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the academic year so that students can still see us and not have an interruption in their schedule.”

Arts and Sciences senior Clarissa Parker, who found the event to be very educational, echoed Weston’s sentiments.

“I feel like a lot of people come to college not knowing what kind of resources they have available, especially when it comes to women’s health,” said Parker. “Events like this need to happen a lot more often so women know that there are people who can help them.”