Task force talks ways to reduce teen pregnancy

A local task force continued its work Wednesday tasked by a Hill County Health Improvement Plan, trying to find ways to keep getting teenage girls from getting pregnant and ways to help pregnant and parenting teen girls — and boys.

Wanda Meredith, coordinator of Family Planning in Hill County said during the noon meeting at the Hill County Courthouse Annex that the task force has been meeting to see what it can do to make a difference in the community, mainly in two areas.

“No. 1, prevent teen pregnancy, and No. 2, if there are pregnant teens or parenting teens what can we do to kind of help support those people, keep them in school, get them an education and see if we can help some of this cycle of poverty that can happen because of that. … Not just the girl but also the dad of the little triad, as well, that may be dropping out of school to support that child.”

Teen pregnancy was one of three top priorities to address identified in a Health Improvement Plan put together last year by the Hill County Health Consortium. The other top priorities identified were reducing alcohol abuse in the county and increasing awareness of and resources for mental health problems.

Sally Loftus, director of Hi-Line Pregnancy Resource Center, attended the meeting and told the task force what that center provides.

Loftus said the center provides, free of charge to anyone who comes in, pregnancy tests and counseling after the test — both about not becoming pregnant and on options if the test is positive.

If the woman decides to become a parent, the center provides resources to help teach prenatal care and parenting.

Loftus said the center would be willing to talk with the task force and groups involved about working together, but said that as a faith-based and abstinence-based group, Hi-Line Pregnancy Resource Center would disagree with some of the groups on some issues.

Meredith echoed that, but said the agencies could complement each other and help fill gaps in care and services.

“We want the same thing in the end,” she said.

She said the task force is working to identify resources already in the community and to form partnerships with groups, including Northern Montana Health Care, Bullhook Community Health Center, Center for Mental Health and Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association.

The association could help provide a community voice, Meredith said.

“Yes, we want you all to be abstinent,but if you’re going to be sexually active you need to do it safely,” she said.

Meredith said the task force also has been talking to the Havre Public Schools.

She said the curriculum at schools used to include more from Family Planning and about sex education, but the focus in recent years on abstinence-only education has driven that out.

But, she said, the Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees has approved a curriculum that would include sex education. The group agreed to help the health and physical education instructors in the district write that curriculum, with Meredith saying the task force would be willing to help any school in the region with that.

A main comment at Wednesday’s meeting was that teen fathers and potential fathers need to be included in the discussion and offers of assistance.

“The dads sometimes get forgotten and get left out,” said Janet Trethewey, a Havre City Council member and health education instructor.

Bullhook Community Health Center Family Nurse Practitioner Lynne Nash agreed.

“We have to teach our boys, too,” she said.

Meredith said the task force wants and needs to get many teens involved, pregnant and parenting, friends of parenting teens, teens who are not pregnant, and those from all walks of life, all religions and all backgrounds.

She said forming a panel of teens would be a crucial component. That panel could both help educate the friends of its members and give the task force a teen perspective.

“What do you hear, where are you coming from, what can we do for you guys, what kind of changes can we make in the community?” she said.

And another key is talking to the parents of teens. Meredith said studies show that parents want to help their children make decisions about sex and that most teens say the biggest influence on having sex is their parents.

“By a huge landslide, it’s clearly parents,” she said.

But the group talked about how difficult it can be for parents to talk to their children about sex and the consequences of having sex.

Jessica Kennedy of Hill County Family Planning said one solution might be creating a course to teach parents how to talk to their children about sex.

Meredith said another goal of the task force is creating a place where teens feel they can safely ask questions about sex.

Amy Ferguson of the Hill County Health Department said a group in Missoula had great success using some of the techniques the task force is discussing, including forming teen panels and providing educational opportunities.

The program there has been so successful that high schools have eliminated day care centers they provided for children of students, Ferguson said.

“They got their teen pregnancy rate down that much,” she said.