Brainerd High School may get its own health clinic, thanks to the vision of one of its most determined 11th-grade students.
As a member of the Infant Mortality Public Awareness Campaign for Tennessee, or Impact, Janelle Tonge visited a similar clinic inside a high-poverty high school last year in New York City and thought it would be a perfect fit for Brainerd.
"Sex and violence are issues here at Brainerd. ... Right now there's not even a school nurse," she said.
She imagined the clinic providing services, such as contraceptive counseling to students and, maybe one day, the community.
Miss Tonge's story was made public at a news conference Friday at Brainerd, where officials from Girls Inc., the local nonprofit that runs Impact, announced a $165,000 grant from BlueCross Blueshield of Tennessee's Health Foundation. The money will be used to continue the statewide program that first inspired the 17-year-old.
Impact started in 2008 with a two-year grant from the Governor's Office of Children's Care Coordination in Hamilton, Davidson and Shelby counties -- the three counties in the state with the highest rates of infant mortality. With the recent grant from BlueCross, Girls Inc. will take over administration of the program.
Impact is an outreach and advocacy program for teens, by teens about reducing infant mortality.
"Their goal is to educate their peers that pregnancy of a teenager because of poor choices that could lead to the unthinkable -- a child dying in its first year of life," said Bea Lurie, Girls Inc. executive director.
INFANT MORTALITY* Nearly seven U.S. babies die out of every 1,000 live births.* More than 28,000 American babies die each year before their first birthday.* Low birthweight babies are 19 times more likely to die in their first year.* Black mothers are more likely to have premature babies than white mothers.* Infants born to women who wait until the seventh month or later to start prenatal care or received no care were twice as likely to die as women who started care in their first trimester.* The average first-year cost for a full-term baby is $3,325; the average first-year cost for a premature baby is $32,325.Source: Girls Inc.
Although Brainerd administrators are behind Miss Tonge's health clinic proposal, principal Charles Joynes said it is still in the preliminary stages of planning. A proposal must be presented to Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jim Scales, and then be approved by the Hamilton County Board of Education.
Still, Mr. Joynes said he is immensely proud of Miss Tonge, who is involved in many organizations and extracurricular activities at Brainerd.
"She represents the young ladies of our school and of our community," he said. " She models for them. I just appreciate being a teeny part of what this lady has accomplished.
"It offsets some of the students who do the negative things. The community doesn't step back and think of all the positive things."
Miss Tonge said she hopes her involvement with IMPACT will encourage others to make a positive difference in their communities.
"By me taking a stand for what's right, hopefully other students will do the same," she said. "A lot of people have dreams and goals, but not many people believe they can come true."
Follow Kelli Gauthier on Twitter at twitter.com/gauthierkelli.
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