Always be sure to Inspire, Connect, and Impact...

The kids are looking, so let's always Inspire, Connect, and Impact.

The stairs weren't this large, but Taylor, our blog manager, likes to exaggerate!

A few months ago, my then 2-year-old and I were walking downstairs at my Mother-in-Law's house.  I slipped while holding a glass of tea and, yes, I fell down the stairs. The rest of the family ­­­ FINE, I just lost my balance and dropped the glass.  My husband snickered because he knows how clumsy I can be, but everyone else was fine with my assertion that everything was ok….everyone except my 2-year old that is.  My toddler boldly inserts himself in the conversation and tells everyone to “WAIT…my Mommy FELL down those stairs RIGHT THERE and she fell LIKE THIS” – that’s when he goes back up the stairs and begins what turns into a live looped reenactment of my secretly not so flattering fall!!  No need for a You Tube video!  It was absolutely hilarious and made me realize that NOTHING gets past this kid.

All joking aside, as parents, teachers, counselors, social workers, and other youth-serving professionals, we should never take for granted how our words AND actions impact young people, especially those most vulnerable and at-risk.  None of us are perfect and young people KNOW THIS, so when we stumble or even fall, we must remember to show them how to persevere through difficult times, how to make tough decisions, and how to ask for help.

My immediate reaction to the fall was superficial…how do I look in this situation, how can I prove that I am really ok.  Yet, as adults, we always want kids to share, to be honest, and to listen.  Well, my toddler demanded that my true circumstances be brought to light.  And, really that’s what young people want…not to know all of our business, but to know that we care and are not judging them.  If we want young people to be open, then we must not be clouded by superficial notions of what things SHOULD look like, but be able to meet young people where they are and show our openness to what they have to say.

A few weeks ago, the SC Campaign hosted more than 350 youth-serving professionals at our 13^th annual Summer Institute, entitled Inspire, Connect, Impact.  We were grateful to have so many passionate adults willing to carve out some time to learn more about best practices in teen pregnancy prevention and other health/youth related efforts around the state and country.  Professional development opportunities like this shape our ability to effectively reach young people and to grow as mentors and role models for the next generation.

We can truly inspire, connect, and impact the lives of young people even as we constantly work our own way through the maze of life!

Kimberly Wicker is the Outreach Specialist for the SC Campaign.

Poli-talks...My Least Favorite at Parties!

Traditionally, and even though I know friends that would scoff at this, I do not like to talk about politics.

When it starts at parties, especially in company of mixed views, I am quite certain it will kill the good time we are all having. To “Mighty Mouse” the situation I “come to save the day” and will suddenly bring up such a random subject that people can’t help but leave the “dirty poli-talks” for another day, sans Taylor.  (“My favorite for a while was, how about those Banana Slugs, did you see the game last night, whew!”  For those that don’t know what I am talking about, like most of my friends, click here.)

The one thing that ALL of my friends will agree that I L-O-V-E talking about is teen and unplanned pregnancy prevention.  I love to talk about what I do, because I also L-O-V-E what I do.  So I talk, and talk, and talk, and talk about contraception, and parent child connectedness, and how abstinence is the best option for our young people, but that they still need the education for when they decide to become sexually active to know how to protect themselves….talk, talk talk Wahwahwahwah wah wah wah wah….I am quite sure half of my friends believe I sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher.

But something has changed here recently.  I can’t talk about my FAVORITE subject without talking about my LEAST FAVORITE subject.  Just like the weird guy at the party, politics are sticking their nose into my convo.

The “political debate” about “contraception” feels so foreign to me, as it does to many of my friends.  To see this on CNN or on any other news channel is like mixing pickles and chocolate (NOT GOOD…DO NOT TRY).  A personal decision like when to have a baby and how to prevent having one until you are ready is not one for the floor of the House or Senate.  It isn’t even one for open discussion between elected officials behind closed doors.  It is between a sexually active person(s) and a medical professional.

I will not end my good time by debating the politics of contraception here, but I will say this. The whole point of this is that people have the right to select their method of family planning.  I do not care what others do for their pregnancy prevention, be that natural family planning or using long acting reversible contraception (LARC).  As Americans, we have the right to make our own plans for our own lives, individually, without the need to consult on the state or federal government level.  When folks stop remembering that and start wanting the family planning conversation to be a POLITICAL CONVERSATION, I start calling them the “Party Poopers” and will immediately change the subject “so how about those Banana Slugs…what a team, am I right!”

by:  Taylor Wilson, Communications Specialist

Marathon Training and Teen Pregnancy Prevention are more Similar than You Might Think

I am not a natural runner.  Some people run and look graceful, powerful, effortless. Not me.  I look like I am running mile 10 when I am on mile 2. I look like I am fighting for every step.  But, nonetheless, running has become a really important part of my life. Along with two friends, I get up at 5:00 in the morning 3-4 times a week to run, and I completed my first half marathon last year.  I was supposed to run my second half-marathon this weekend, but instead found myself frustrated on the sidelines with an injury.

This unwelcome break gave me a chance to reflect on what makes running so special to me. Running is simple and hard.  It is continuing to put one foot in front of the other, even when all you want to do is quit. It is taking setbacks, like an injury, in stride, and it's knowing that you’ll get better if you put in the work.  Occasionally, there is a big accomplishment along the way that makes all the work pay off.

 It is not too much of a stretch to think about lowering the rates of teen pregnancy as a marathon.  One of the central tenets of the SC Campaign is that we are committed to prevention now and in the long term.  Teen pregnancy prevention is not simple  -- it is hard, and the challenges facing South Carolina are daunting.  We have the 12^th highest teen birth rate in the country.  We are disproportionately and negatively affected by child poverty, health disparities, and other indicators of child wellbeing.

 However, through steadfast commitment to young people, the SC Campaign continues to invest in strategies that work such as effective, evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs;  accessible contraception for teens who are sexually active; and helping parents have conversations about sex, love, and healthy relationships. We are able to maintain this commitment because we have a vision of young people who have the chance to go to college, who are empowered to make decisions about their health, and  who can wait until they are ready to start a family.  While we have some significant challenges, we also have some major accomplishments.  Teen birth rates have never been lower in the state or in the nation. These decreases represent real people: young people who have a chance to finish high school, go to college, start a job or otherwise continue to build their vision of the future without the responsibility of pregnancy and parenthood until they are ready.  So, just as I will keep getting up far too early to go for a run, we will all keep working to help young people in our state have the chance to build the future they want. 

- Shannon Flynn is the Research and Evaluation Director at the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Contact Shannon at sflynn@teenpregnancysc.org

My Trip through the APHA Expo Hall: Where Theory Meets Practice

From October 29 – November 2, 2011, APHA’s held its 139th Annual Meeting & Exposition in Washington, DC. APHA stands for the American Public Health Association which, I believe, is the largest organization of public health researchers and professionals in our country. Over 13,000 people reportedly registered to attend APHA this year. One of those persons was myself, the Training Coordinator for the SC Campaign. While I grew up near Washington, D.C., and lived there as an intern in 2007, I was not prepared for the experience about to take place. I truly believe anyone who works in the field of Public Health should attend APHA at least once. You need to see with your own eyes, the scope and scale of this conference. Imagine how Dorothy felt when seeing OZ for the first time.

When I first arrived at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center (which takes up two full city blocks) – I followed the crowd and signs up to the third floor where I registered with a swipe of my conference issued ID card. That’s right, you don’t just get a name badge, they give you an ID Card (I’ll explain why in a minute). They handed me the conference program with the complete list of presentations, poster sessions, meetings, caucuses, meet n’ greets, and vendors was 418 pages long. “That’s not a program,” someone remarked to me, “it’s a phone book.” Good thing they gave us an APHA branded recyclable shoulder bag to carry the book and other items.

Then I took a walk through the Expo Hall. Now “hall” is a deceiving term, think more like airplane hanger, or better yet, picture a sci-fi movie with spaceships landing in a spaceport. That’s the size and scale of this room. APHA reported that over 650 businesses had spaces in the Expo Hall, but from where I stood, it looked like thousands of booths!

Overwhelmed by the scale of the spaces, I quickly retreated to a couch in the internet lounge (offering free Wi-Fi) so that I could review my conference ‘phone book’ (I mean, program) and chart my course for the next few days. I planned out each day, where I would be every 1-2 hours. There were 30 minute breaks between sessions, which seems like a long time but with long walks across the building, lines for coffee/food, and the time it took to find the closest restroom, 30 minutes seemed barely enough time to get a good seat in the next session.

The scientific presentation sessions were just that - very scientific. The opportunity to hear from expert researchers in the field was eye-opening but often over my head since everyone who knows me, knows that research isn’t my cup of tea. I like to read the executive summaries at the beginning of each journal article, and I’m infamous for skimming through a 30 page report in too short a time. I’m sure others in the field of teen pregnancy prevention can relate, while others who love research and data are saying “shame on you, Ryan.”

So after hours of sessions – hearing lots of theory and tons of data points, regression models, p values, etc.... it was time for me to rerevisit the “spaceport” (I mean, Expo Hall). The Expo Hall was alive with activity. The loud speaker announced upcoming book signings and raffle drawings for those who had visited 24 premiere vendor books and gotten a stamp from each on their conference ‘passport’. There were booths from most of the major universities and schools of public health in the country. Students looking for advanced degrees or graduates looking for employment stopped from station to station. My favorite was a booth set-up like a living room and the admissions staff invited you to have a chat on their sofas.

The next row over, there was a mobile dentist office in a converted RV set-up complete with a LCD TV on the side showing educational videos about oral hygiene. One booth featured the APRIL aging software that helps you see what you will look like at 72 if you eat unhealthy foods, smoke, or tan without UV protection. Trust me, the smoking, tanning, fast food eating Ryan at 72 is NOT someone I hope to ever become… There was one vendor that asked us to take off our shoes and stuck special support cushions in there, before you knew it, they felt so good you almost gave them $38 to keep them in your shoes – but I resisted their sales ploy. If you saw a vendor who you liked and wanted more information from, you could give them your ID card and with one swipe, you were added to their mailing list. Goodbye age of business cards – hello digital age!

The thing about the Expo Hall that I liked the most was that the vendors weren’t just selling junk or giving away useless information. Every single booth was there for a reason! This was public health theory in its most practical form. Research had been conducted, theories had been developed and from those theories, products were create and now either being given away, raffled off, or sold. This Expo Hall was a place to find the latest demonstration models for those working in nutrition and healthy eating, software for those conducting qualitative interviews, services to help you translate documents or in real-time into over 160 languages, and the vendors that caught my attention most – companies or non-profits related to HIV and Teen Pregnancy prevention.

I filled my conference bag with condom samples and models of IUDs, brochures, and postcards. I spoke to national organizations and groups local to Washington, D.C. I visited the booths of ETR, Select Media, the CDC, and Health and Human Services (HHS). These practical tools that I gathered at the conference now rest on shelves in my office, spread across my desk, and distributed among my coworkers at the SC Campaign. From what I learned and gathered at APHA, we can now bring some of the theories home to South Carolina and some of the practice recommendations home to you at your agency or directly into the places where your kids will learn how to be better prepared for adulthood.

I’m glad I took a stroll through the ‘spaceport’ to collect stamps for my 'passport' with my ‘phone book’ under my arm. It was worth every minute I spent in the Expo Hall at APHA!

-Ryan Wilson, MEd., is a Training Coordinator for the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Contact Ryan at  rwilson@teenpregnancysc.org (803) 771-7700 ext. 126.

Did ya Feel That?

This week the East Coast experienced a rare occurrence…yes, the infamous EARTHQUAKE!  Local and national broadcasters up and down the coast as well as parts of the Mid-West were on it, reporting every detail and displaying absolute amazement at how far-reaching the effects of this natural event were.  The public reaction to the earthquake’s even slight impact across such a wide area made me think about our work in prevention, especially teen pregnancy prevention. 

Not that I would ever equate the danger of a possible natural disaster to a teen pregnancy.  However, the public’s shock regarding impact IS something that seems curiously similar!  On several occasions, as I do outreach across the state, I have heard adults of all backgrounds and titles suggest that teen pregnancy is only relevant for some of us… those who work with high schools or are parents of teens, etc.  I often hear phrases like:

·         Whew!  I am glad I have passed that stage (a parent of a young adult); I’m not there yet (a parent of a young child) or I don’t have to worry about that because I have boys!

Yes in 2011, with all of the proven social implications of unintended pregnancy, HIV, and STDs, we still have some  neighbors and friends who think they are exempt from the ripple effects of teen pregnancy and disease (much like we in South Carolina and other parts of the US think we are exempt from earthquakes!).  Of course there are many parents, teachers, and health care professionals who ARE well aware of the connections between teen pregnancy and our economic, social, and public health plight in this country. 

We just need to continue to highlight those connections and to speak up when we hear anyone suggest that we don't have to be overly concerned about the health and well-being of young people…ALL YOUNG PEOPLE!  Click here to look at our Making the Connection series. 

-Kimberly Wicker, MSW, is the Outreach and Development Specialist for the SC Campaign. Contact Kim at kwicker@teenpregnancysc.org.

Pharmacies CAN Play a Role in Teen Pregnancy Prevention

I came across an article today that I think is important for us all to review - especially those who serve as pharmacists or know someone who does.  A brief excerpt from the article will give you a glimpse into its content.

"Pharmacies are safe and should appeal that way to all, not just to the elderly. Our local pharmacies can benefit our entire community when displaying teen friendliness from staff, by answering questions about pregnancy-prevention products without judgment, shorter waiting times and additional resources that customers will be happy to use. If these places can sustain a healthy environment (where the pressure of stress isn't on our backs as soon as we begin to walk in). Soon, these environments can begin to establish trust with our youth. Teens will remember this trust and have confidence knowing they can get help from trustworthy professionals and hopefully will turn away from their old shy ways or pride that has held them back from asking for help." 

Wow, this author speaks the truth, and at the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy we have the data to back it up.  A little over a year ago we conducted a Secret Shopper Campaign to assess a teen's experience purchasing condoms.  The information we gathered was telling.  Not only should pharmacists be playing a role, but so should gas station attendants, cashiers at Wal-Mart, employees at grocery stores, and many more. Review our outcomes and let us know what you think.

By: Cayci Banks, Director of Communications, SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy