Audio clip
Beth Simpson
Marcus Shropshire, an 18-year-old volunteer at the South Chattanooga Recreation Center, said many of his peers need to take responsibility for their own health choices.
That’s why he helped organize a free youth health conference Saturday at New Monumental Baptist Church.
“It can be a wake-up call,” said Mr. Shropshire, a senior at Howard School of Academics and Technology.
Hundreds of local teenagers and parents are expected at the second annual conference, sponsored by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department’s TENNderCare Outreach program. The event’s schedule was planned by a committee of local teens.
Sessions for teens will focus on pregnancy prevention, violence and gangs, physical activity, depression, sex and STDs, said Beth Simpson, health educator with TENNderCare Outreach at the health department. The event also will provide workshops for parents on communicating with teens, Internet safety, decoding text messages and signs of gang activity.
The program also aims to encourage eligible young people to get free annual screenings offered by TENNderCare, the state program for federally mandated periodic health screenings for children with TennCare from birth until age 21.
“We wanted to provide a place for kids to learn more about the importance of health and lifestyle choices, a place where they could mingle with their peers, but then have professionals, too, to guide them,” Ms. Simpson said.
NFL players Tony Brown of the Tennessee Titans and Terdell Sands of the Oakland Raiders will speak at the event, and attendees will be in the running for prizes such as movie tickets, iPods, a bicycle, a digital camera and a laptop computer.
In Tennessee 43 percent of young children and young adults are either obese or at risk for becoming obese, said Veronica Gunn, chief medical officer for the Tennessee Department of Health, who will be the event’s keynote speaker.
Diabetes is the third leading cause of death among blacks, making it all the more important that healthy habits start early, Dr. Gunn said.
More than one in four U.S. teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week.
Parent sessions will include discussions of Internet safety and decoding the shorthand lingo teenagers often use in text messages and instant messages while chatting online.
Deputy Eric Baxter, school resource officer at Brainerd High School, said he will advise parents that they can add filters, block certain Web sites and check a computer’s history to see which sites their teens are visiting.
Parents who plan to attend the event hope some of the high-profile speakers and the relaxed atmosphere will make an impact on teens.
“Our youth are taking their health for granted,” said Chattanooga parent Joe Vesselles, director of male mentoring with the Multicultural Youth Training and Development nonprofit organization in Chattanooga. He attended the event last year and plans to attend Saturday.
“A lot of them (who attended the event) last year said they’d never had a physical, and they were 14 (and) 15 years old,” he said.
TEEN HEALTH FACTS
A 2002 survey of Hamilton County teens found:
* 72 percent of teens had tried drinking; 39 percent in the last month.
* 59 percent of teens had tried smoking; 27 percent in the last month.
* 44 percent of teens had had sexual intercourse; 30 percent in the last three months.
* 40 percent of teens had tried marijuana; 23 percent in the last month.
* 14 percent of teens had had four or more sexual partners.
* 10 percent of teens had attempted suicide in the last year.
* 9 percent of teens had tried cocaine; 5 percent in the last month.
* 9 percent of teens smoked on a daily basis.
Source: Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Health Council
IF YOU GO
* What: Youth Health Conference
* When: Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m.
* Where: New Monumental Baptist Church, 901 Woodmore Lane
* Registration: You can sign up at the door, but registration is recommended. Call (423) 209-8336 or e-mail BethS@hamiltontn.gov.
* Prizes: Register for a chance to win movie tickets, iPods, a bicycle, a digital camera and a laptop computer.
* Teens and parents can discuss pregnancy prevention, violence and gangs and other topics Saturday.
Health care reporter Emily Bregel has worked at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since July 2006. She previously covered banking and wrote for the Life section. Emily, a native of Baltimore, Md., earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Columbia University. She received a first-place award for feature writing from the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists’ Golden Press Card Contest for a 2009 article about a boy with a congenital heart defect. She ...
