Condoms given out in Williams by County Health Department.
WILLIAMS—Kids at the Williams Youth and Recreation center—and Mayor John Moore, returning from vacation—got a surprise during their normal Wednesday movie night. Tooth brushes and condoms. Rose Newbold is seeking an apology from Joleen Burdick who handed out the material.
On Wednesday, May 12, the Coconino County Health Department held a “Williams Healthy Smile” event at the Williams Adult Activities Center. There were apparently no condoms offered at the event.
The Williams Youth and Recreation Center holds activities each evening and this evening was movie night. According to the daily log for the Williams Youth Recreation Center staff indicated that they shut the movie off at approximately 6:10 so Burdick could hand out toothbrushes to children as young as five-years old. Staff believed Burdick was going to give dental care instructions, but Burdick handed out the toothbrushes and left so the scheduled activity for that evening resumed.
During the movie, staff was approached by one of the youth that had been outside and was informed that “little brown bags” with condoms had been handed out by Ms Burdick. The staff person in charge went outside and found condoms and the rest of the contents of the “brown bags” strewn around the park. The staff on duty spent a portion of the night cleaning up and disposing of the items.
The “brown bags” contained inner packages with condoms, stickers and instructions for proper usage, including a drawing of exactly how to apply a condom. Burdick did this without authorization from the City of Williams or the permission or knowledge of the parents of the youth that she gave the material to.
Example of stickers in the package.
We have not seen a copy of the “instructions” as they were immediately disposed of. However, several of the kids looked on them as instructions for self-gratification. One ten-year old graphically demonstrated the instructions for me.
An email from Mayor John Moore indicated that he learned of the incident after he returned home from a short vacation Friday night and did not have time to investigate. He did add, “NO the city does not support this type of conduct.” The Mayor is also seeking an apology in the matter.
County Supervisor for the district was is budget meetings, so he was unable to find out any further facts. He did refer the matter to the Director of the Health Department to investigate.
The director did call just as this article was going to print. She was in the airport preparing for a flight to Washington D.C. and it made communication impossible. She has said that she will call later.
Rose Newbold, City of Williams Recreation Direction, is seeking a written apology from an apparently unapologetic Burdick. “I do not care what your take on the matter is,” Rose said, “this is not the appropriate venue to hand out condoms. We have children here as young as five-years old. She [Burdick] should have seen that when she handed out toothbrushes inside.”
The Health Department supervisor for Ms Burdick has been sent a list of questions via email and we are waiting for a response.
The Coconino County Health Department apparently uses taxpayer funds for the SEXFYI program which is authorized to hand out condoms to children of any age without the permission of a parent or guardian. Their web site has a list of places that kids can go to get condoms at any time with no age limit specified. The site does recommend talking with parents. They do not, however, seem to attend open events, such as the Williams Health Fair held recently. They do not, however, seem to have a problem going in the night to places where they know that kids frequent.
It is, further, unclear exactly how condoms fit into an overall dental health plan.
The Center for Young Women’s Health sponsored y the Children’s Hospital in Boston indicates that a properly used condom “can” be 97% effective against pregnancy if used properly. It is 86% effective if not used properly. The site say, “Latex condoms provide excellent protection against some STDs. Polyurethane condoms provide some protection against STDs, although it is still not clear just how much.”
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