Planned Parenthood Kicks-off National Condom Week with Pub Crawls in Hudson and Troy

ALBANY, NY (02/11/2011)(readMedia)-- This weekends marks the kick-off to National Condom Week in the Capital Region with a series of "pub crawls" hosted by volunteers and staff from Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood (UHPP) scheduled to take place on Friday and Saturday evenings. Specifically, pub crawls are scheduled between 9:00pm and 1:00am on Friday, February 11th at Mexican Radio and Red Dot on Warren Street in Hudson, and on Saturday, February 12th at Ale House, O'Leary's, Holmes and Watson, and The Ruck in downtown Troy.

During the pub crawls, outreach teams will visit local establishments, distribute "safer sex kits" and engage patrons in a safer sex trivia game. Crowd members will be asked to answer questions focused on common facts and myths related to sexual health. Participants will be rewarded with prizes including safer sex kits.

National Condom Week is a week long effort to emphasize the importance of condom use. The campaign uses humor as a tool to help educate young adults about serious risks involved with unprotected sex. Many STIs are both under-diagnosed and under-reported and if they go undetected and untreated they can lead to serious long-term health consequences.

"National Condom Week is one of many activities we employ in our ongoing initiative to expand and improve sex education in the Capital Region. The cooperation and support of local businesses in this effort is wonderful and sincerely appreciated" stated Patricia McGeown, President/CEO of UHPP.

# # #

UHPP operates four health centers and serves over 10,000 patients each year in Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer and Greene Counties. All centers provide confidential STI testing and treatment, as well as HIV testing and counseling. UHPP educators provide over 500 programs each year to young people and professionals around the Capital Region.