It's National Health Center Week!

It’s National Health Center Week – a time to celebrate those who work in health centers across the country, but specifically, I want to thank all of the hardworking individuals who give their time and effort in the health centers within our state. Here is a description of what this week is all about from the event’s website:

“Each year the second week in August is dedicated to celebrating the services and contributions of Community, Migrant, Homeless and Public Housing Health Centers. While there are countless reasons to celebrate America’s Health Centers, among the most important and unique is their long success in providing access to affordable, high quality, cost effective health care to medically vulnerable and underserved people throughout the United States.”

Health centers play an important role in the work of the SC Campaign. Every day, our youth are exposed to messages about love, sex and relationships. Healthcare providers are in a unique position to offer accurate, timely information in a confidential setting. In addition, teens value the time spent with them and the unique counsel that is offered. So this week, give a shout out to someone via social media who works at a health center, send a fruit basket to a health center near you, or simply say THANK YOU to the men and women who work day in and day out to provide important services not just to young people, but to all citizens in South Carolina who need their help.

If you work for a health center, those is charge of the National Health Center Week want to hear from you. Share your stories, photos or videos on what makes your health center special. For more information, visit www.healthcenterweek.com.

by Cayci Banks, Senior Advisor for Communications, SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Getting to Know our Priority Youth Specialist Rena Dixon

I sat down with Rena Dixon, Priority Youth Specialist at the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy to learn more about how she became a public health professional.  Rena has worked for the SC Campaign for four years and recently earned her Ph.D. in Community Health Promotion and Education from Walden University.

Kemi:  Describe your journey to becoming a public health professional focused on teen pregnancy prevention.

Rena: I went to undergrad thinking I was going to be an athletic trainer – very different from what I do now. They discontinued the athletic training program at my school so I had to figure out what I was going to do. At my school, you were put in health science classes to be pre-athletic training, or pre-nursing, or pre-physical therapy, so I stuck with my public health classes and I loved it. I absolutely loved it, it was great.  I did my internship with young people in the Housing Authority [of Savannah] so I really bought into working with young people, which led to my first job working at Planned Parenthood in Georgia. I learned all about pregnancy prevention, STIs, and working with young folks.  I moved away from that and really wanted to get back into it, which is why I made the switch to come back to working in sexual health all day every day.

Kemi: So, young people – that was really your driving point?

Rena: Right. I really wanted to be a person that was a resource for folks about health information.  You see so many people who don’t know the right answers or don’t know how to get the information. I thought it was really important to me as a person of color to be that voice for my own people, and my own neighborhood, and my own family. So I just kind of took off with it.

Kemi: That kind of makes me think of Beverly Bond’s talk [at Summer Institute 2014] where you’re kind of waiting for somebody else to do it [be a resource in your community then decide] I’ll just do it [instead] because other people are probably thinking the same thing, that we need so-and-so to be a role model. 

Kemi: Can you describe a typical day being a Youth Specialist?

Rena: I travel a lot. A typical day usually involves me being in the car going somewhere to meet with our providers that we work with. I do have a unique position that I work with providers all across the state and not in one particular region.  So, any given day I could be in Spartanburg, or I could be in Horry, or I could be in Charleston, or I could be in Lancaster or Rock Hill. But a typical day involves me driving to see one of our clinic partners or higher ed partners.

Kemi: So, when you say our providers, you’re talking about mostly clinics?

Rena: Yes, my position is specialized to really focus on working mostly with clinic providers to help increase their capacity to provide teen-friendly services for youth coming in, or I work with higher ed campuses to help them address teen pregnancy on their campuses.

Kemi: So, have they heard of us, or you just go in and you give them [information]?

Rena: Ninety percent (90%) of the people I work with closely are receiving some type of grant funding through us or we’re working with them on a particular project like the BlueCross BlueShield project, or the CDC project, or the PREP project, or now the PAF project. So, they’ve already been identified to work on that larger sub-project and I’m just doing my piece for that grant.

Kemi: So, how did you spend this morning?

Rena: I was doing a speaker request for a group of about 300 young people on pregnancy prevention and STIs.

Kemi: Do you do these often? Is it usually that large of a group?

Rena: Well, it’s kind of random. I think it’s always different for us because we don’t do direct service, but people still look to us to provide education and information in communities. So I do feel like we get a lot of speaker requests. Those of us in the office who are public health trainers and are comfortable getting up in front of groups usually get those requests. I did one two weeks ago and one about six months ago. It varies.

Kemi: Do you prepare a PowerPoint, or what do you do to keep young people engaged?

Rena: I did a Prezi this time because there were so many young people, I felt like I needed some visuals and I think that’s a cool, different way instead of a boring PowerPoint. Two weeks ago, I did a game with the young people because I had a smaller group of about 30, and I did two different sessions so I was able to use a game called Fact or Fiction.

Kemi: Are they [young people] pretty responsive?

Rena: Yeah, they are.  You get a lot of questions.  A lot, a lot of questions because some people don’t have anyone they feel comfortable talking to, or someone they can talk to who’s going to give them the right information.

What's LGBTQ Got to Do With It?

Last month, I got the opportunity to present a webinar for the SC Campaign, “Meeting the Healthcare Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Youth.”  This is a research area that I am very passionate about, and I am well-versed on the literature on this topic. My dissertation even focused on the health outcomes and communication practices of this population. The webinar went extremely well and at the conclusion, I gave the audience an opportunity to ask questions. I found it ironic that three people asked me the same thing: “What does LGBTQ youth have to do with teen pregnancy?” This question was quite baffling to me, as I thought I illustrated the relationship between sexual health outcomes and LGBTQ youth in my presentation.

After weeks of pondering, I felt this was a question that needed to be addressed and a myth that needed to be dispelled.  LGBTQ youth, also referred to as sexual minority youth, are at risk of getting pregnant just like any other youth. It is quite ignorant to believe that someone who identifies as LGBTQ cannot get pregnant or has no interest in pregnancy prevention. Research shows that lesbian and bisexual females are two to seven times more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy than their heterosexual counterpart. That’s right… lesbian and bisexual youth are more likely to get pregnant than a heterosexual adolescent. Furthermore, lesbian and bisexual females are about as likely to have sex with a male partner as a heterosexual female, yet more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy. This is due in part to inconsistent and incorrect use of contraceptives. This research highlights the need for teen pregnancy prevention programs and contraceptive counseling targeted specifically for sexual minority youth.

The take-home message here is this: just because someone identifies as LGBTQ does not mean that they are exempt or protected from pregnancy. We, as health professionals, educators, and providers, have an important role to play in improving the health outcomes and overall well-being of LGBTQ youth. It is imperative that we understand that LGBTQ youth and teen pregnancy go hand-in-hand because the same behavior, regardless of one’s sexual orientation, can contribute to this outcome.  So, if you want to know what LGBTQ youth have to do with teen pregnancy…this population has everything to do with teen pregnancy and should no longer be overlooked in prevention efforts.

To view the webinar mentioned above, click here. 

by India Rose, Post-Doctoral Fellow, SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy