Student-led company at UMN makes sexual health vending machine

Vending machine addresses sexual health on campus

A unique vending machine at the University of Minnesota is helping students with their sexual health one transaction at a time.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - In the lobby of Middlebrook Hall, students can help themselves to everything from soda to snacks.

But one of the vending machines in this University of Minnesota dorm can also help students take care of their sexual health as well.

"It's really a dream come true. Just knowing you are helping all students, not just victims of sexual assault, have more autonomy over their healthcare has been really rewarding and really cool," said U of M senior and CEO of Prosperum Taylor Stoddart.

Stoddart says the company she founded with a couple of other students set up a self-service healthcare machine to offer products like emergency contraception, pregnancy tests, and condoms. The machine also has over-the-counter medications like allergy pills and cold medicine and personal items like feminine hygiene products.

"Essentially, you are taking what you would get at a Walgreens, at a CVS, at a normal drug store and you are putting it all into a self-service machine," said Stoddart.

Stoddart says she came up with this after she was sexually assaulted on campus in 2021.

She said when she went to a pharmacy in Dinkytown to get the morning-after pill, she not only had to wait half an hour for someone to unlock the case it was in, but she also encountered a couple of classmates who worked at the store. Her attacker also found her there and followed her around the store and eventually home.

"I want to make the world softer for victims of sexual assault just a little bit because it's hard enough already as it is," said Stoddart.

Stoddart says the machine was installed early last month, which happened to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and she says so far, it's been a success.

"It is really important, and it's important for victims of sexual assault, and it's important for all students because our healthcare should be private. It's ours," said Stoddart.

Stoddart says there is only one of her company's vending machines at the U of M right now, but she hopes to expand to other colleges and universities across the Midwest over the next few years.