A special Wishard-IU program helps youth steer clear of high-risk behaviors
"Okay, take out your little blue breasts and we'll get started," says DeWana Allen, speaking to a half dozen high-school students in a special class at Indianapolis Public Schools Day Adult High School.
The students chuckle as they produce miniature breast models. They are practicing how to detect changes in the breast that might signal the presence of cancer or other abnormalities. "It's important you understand that a woman dies every twelve minutes from breast cancer in this country," says Ms. Allen, community youth outreach coordinator for Healthy Start. "What you learn here today could save your life, and this is information you can pass along to others, too."
"It's all up to you," she adds.
Today's lesson is one of many services offered through Healthy Start, a federally funded program serving youth ages nine to nineteen in targeted areas around Marion County. It seeks to reduce teenage pregnancy and infant mortality; to promote good physical, mental and emotional health; and to assist and nurture the parenting skills of young mothers and fathers.
A collaboration between the IU School of Medicine, Wishard Health Services and the Marion County Health Department, Healthy Start is totally community focused, says Margaret Blythe, MD, professor of pediatrics and director of adolescent clinical services at Riley Hospital for Children and Wishard Hospital. "That's why we take it to community centers, schools, clubs - places where children feel most comfortable," she says.
Each year hundreds of area youth take part in its three main programs. The Adolescent Parent Child Program and Enhanced Level of Care Coordination is offered at five IU Medical Group-Primary Care clinics, where teens receive prenatal and parenting education and in-home visits.
The Outreach Program provides educational services to nonsexually active males and females at community centers, middle schools and high schools. The focus is on abstinence-based pregnancy prevention, coping skills, avoidance and protection against sexually transmitted diseases.
The Hispanic Project makes the first two programs more accessible to children and teens in the county's rapidly growing Latino community. Wishard has staff members fluent in Spanish who assist with the translation of Healthy Start materials, as well as with the provision of clinical services.
Another effort, Healthy Start's Project In Control, targets youngsters before they enter their reproductive years to provide them with skills to abstain from drug and alcohol use, gangs, sexual assault and domestic violence.
At the Boys and Girls Club on Indianapolis' near west-side, fifteen ten-to-twelve-year-old girls in the program work elbow-to-elbow, furiously decorating t-shirts. "Pookie" has written her name in large letters and drawn a cross and a rainbow beneath. Keisha has drawn several butterflies floating around the words, "Talent, Respect, Pride." Another girl has chosen the simple, boldface statement, "I AM."
But it takes more than paint and t-shirts to build self-esteem, says Project In Control Director Joan Webb. "A child's sense of personal value is lost if it's not reinforced by parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, teachers, whatever people make up a child's community and world," she says. "We only spend a short while with these kids; others share a lifetime with them."
And though that lifetime is usually one of poverty, lived on some of Indianapolis' meanest streets, most program participants are determined to get ahead.
Consider eighteen-year-old Monique, who will finish her studies at Day Adult High School this spring. She plans to attend college or train as a cosmetologist. "I will do whatever it takes to provide the best I can for this child," she says, gently rubbing her abdomen. "But I know if I can't take care of me, I can't take of my baby."
One of Monique's classmates was unable to get a babysitter for this class, so she caught a bus and walked several blocks to the school, carrying her five-month-old son and books along the way. She's also preparing for the workforce, learning how to write a resumé and interview for a job, and to acquire specialized training to match her career aspirations.
"These young ladies are no different than most. They have hopes, dreams and goals, but they face obstacles many people do not," says Theresa Arnold, a 26-year veteran IPS educator and teacher at the Day Adult High School. "It takes courage to move forward in life, and I think Healthy Start helps move them in that direction."