Nurse and educator to speak about the silent epidemic of STDs

By Nancy Malcom

Nevada Herald

Phyllis Edler, RN, BS, MA will share with teens and parents her insights gleaned from 28 years of experience as an emergency room nurse 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 29, at the Nevada High School auditorium. The program is free to the public.

When nurse Phyllis Edler saw a 15-year-old boy come into her emergency room diagnosed with AIDS, she felt something was drastically wrong.

"I was there when he died too.

He had only had one sexual encounter. He had a bright future, was a very smart kid. But because of his lack of education -- he didn't know what was out there -- he had made a bad choice. That persuaded me to get out there and educate the teenagers," Edler said.

Although she wanted to help people understand that ignorance of sexually transmitted diseases could be fatal, she didn't know how to get that information out on a broad scale. She found the answer listening to a radio talk show while driving to work.

"I was working in a Saint Louis hospital emergency room. A doctor was talking about an educational program concerning abstinence, health, and STDs," Edler said.

Although the program format sounded like just what she was looking for, the cost was prohibitive. "The cost to order the program to become an educator was more than I thought I could afford with myself and three kids in college," Edler explained. She put her plans on hold and waited for a sign. "Within a week I received a refund check from my insurance company for the exact amount the program cost and I thought, this isn't coincidental. I purchased the program."

That was 14 years ago, and she has been speaking in public every chance she can, educating people on how to avoid STD infections. She relates statistics, information from the Center of Disease Control and incidents she has encountered personally. "Because of my 28 years in ER surgery, I know a lot of true stories -- 75 percent of my stories are about teenagers I've personally worked with." Edler lives in Washington, Missouri and works at St. John's Mercy Hospital as the clinical supervisor for the ambulatory surgery unit and the recovery room. Family and employer are understanding and supportive, giving her time away from home and work as scheduling allows.

Still, if she has to be gone for several hours, she has to use her own vacation time to give her lectures.

Although her own children are adults, and past the teen years, Edler still feels she has to help people understand the sexual environment today's teens face.

"I'm equally concerned about my grandkids as I was my own children," Edler explained.

Educating the teens is only half of the problem Edler said. "We need to get the parents as educated as the kids. Today's parents, when teens themselves, had only two illnesses they thought about when they were in high school. The main worry then was about getting pregnant.

"Now this generation has to worry about pregnancy and has 26 STDs to consider and six of those can be fatal. Parents need to know the environment has changed and what may have been considered harmless behaviors in their youth, can be deadly behaviors now. I think if parents knew the environment that their kids are in now they would have a different attitude."

Edler feels the number of STDs has risen due to the past 30-year lifestyle of letting kids become sexually active younger.

"They have less supervision now with both parents working," Edler added.

Other causes she suggests are the after school down time which she feels is an extremely vulnerable time for the kids.

"Parents talk to their kids less than they did in the past and often assume kids will do what they want anyway," Edler said. She quickly added "but kids actually want the parents to draw a line in the sand. It's predicted 15 million cases of STDs will occur this year and still no one wants to talk about it."

Edler stresses that abstinence is the only medically recommended method of prevention of STDs.

"I talk about the failure rate of condoms. Young people have been given a false sense of security with past programs that suggested condom use. Actually the risk of contacting HIV can be as much as one out of three even with a condom," she said. "The CDC suggests that abstinence is no longer just a moral issue, it is a medical recommendation," Edler explained.

"Kids don't get all their antibiotics and resistance to fight bacteria until they are in their 20s. From a medical standpoint, they can't deal with what's out there," she added.

"For example," Edler explained, "if a 15-year-old girl would have sex with an infected partner one time, she has a one in eight chance of getting the disease. An adult who would have a one time sexual encounter with an infected partner, would have a one in 80 chance of becoming infected. A teen is 10 times more likely to get an infection than an adult."

Not only are teens more likely to get an infection, Edler said their infections are much worse than adults and much harder to treat and typically much more damage is done.

Edler warns that if this trend continues the population growth will suffer.

"We will have huge, huge fertility issues with this class that are graduating now," Edler warns. "CDC says one out of every 12 will be infertile when they get out of high school. With fertility issues we see a lot more of black market babies."

The only recourse today's teens may have to become parents is to try in-vitro fertilization, a very expensive method of conception with only a 20 percent success rate.

Getting her message of education and communication to the public is Edler's goal.

"Nursing is my profession, but teenagers are my passion," Edler said. "I believe nothing is more powerful than an educated teenager. I've seen it make a difference."