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The health clinic at Los Angeles’
Roosevelt High School provides students with free and confidential counseling,
contraception, pregnancy and STD testing. While nonprofits commonly offer
reproductive health care on school campuses, the partnership between the L.A.
United School District (LAUSD) and Planned Parenthood is the only one of its
kind.
California’s teen birthrate reached
a record low of 29 births per 1,000 youths ages 15-19 in 2010. However, the Los
Angeles County Department of Public Health contends certain east and south L.A.
neighborhoods have disproportionately higher numbers of teen births. Boyle
Heights, home to Roosevelt, is a prime example.
“All areas of LAUSD are not created
equal,” said Christine De Rosa, who works on adolescent health in the HIV/STD
division of the county health department. “Rates vary according to high school
attendance.”
By law, Roosevelt students can visit
the health clinic and see nurse practitioner Sherry Medrano without parental
permission. The clinic is run independently of the school nurse’s office and is
billed to Family PACT, a public program providing family planning to low-income
and uninsured Californians. Although half of the clinic visits this year were
for reproductive health, the clinic also conducts physicals and immunizations.
According to Medrano, students “feel
much safer and much more comfortable coming to a school-based health clinic.”
Roosevelt began offering free
contraceptives and counseling in 1997 but stopped in 2006 when its partnership
with a local hospital ended. In 2008, Medrano saw 32 positive pregnancy tests
between March 1 and June 1 - concurrent with spring break and the prom. She
reached out to Planned Parenthood, which now provides a medical assistant,
contraceptives, STD and pregnancy testing, and peer-advocate training. During
the same months in 2009, the health center logged just three pregnancies.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
