Agenda - 02-20-1979 - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 Departmental efforts to reduce the unplanned, unwanted teenage preg- nancy rates in the county have become more focused and planned during the past six months. Initial groundwork has been laid for modest inter- vention. The nucleus for continued intervention in FY 179-180 shall be a health education, positive prevention approach. The main thrust of the program will be to reach teenagers in the community and provide them with accurate'information, as well as to provide the support and skills necessary to make responsible sexual decisions. In order to accom- plish these objectives and make a visable impact, it will be necessary to provide far more health education time. Currently, the program sup- ports forty hours a week of health education time. At least doubling this time will allow far more varied activities and more continuity of efforts, It has been repeatedly proven that one-shot programs do not produce visable behavior differences. Thus, creating a department's goal for teen services in FY 180. Detailed teen objectives are given in part III, H. following. S. Male Involvement To date, program activities have focused very little on male involve- ment. Participants attending patient education classes are encouraged to bring their partners to the clinic and informed that males are welcome in the classes- umbers of the Family Planning Advisory Council have also been encouraged to bring their partners and other male friends that may be interested in supporting and advising the program. A male student was recruited to serve on the Health Education Committee at Orange High which was responsible for the development of the Family Life Education Curriculum. Additionally, male students were included in the questionaire developed to assess students health education needs. C. Family Planning Advisory Council The Orange County Family Planning Advisory Council has met three times during the first half of FY 179-180. The council is still in the process of development. Membership tends to fluctuate from one meeting to the next, which makes continuity and development of plans difficult. At pre- sent, the council can best be described as exploring its perimeters. Council members have expressed a wide variety of interests to address. Such interests include becoming familiar with clinic services, what's being done in the schools in the area of family life education, how to get more teenagers involved in the program, and rape crisis (the last meeting focused on this subject in depth). Objectives for the family planning advisory council for Fy 179 -180 appear under health education objectives. D. Patient Education Patient education sessions held in conjunction with the clinic were first initiated with the special teen focus in October. Classes are orientational in nature and geared towards new patients. Information covered in the classes includes: defining family palnning; review of the male and female reproductive organs, the menstrual cycle, how con- ception occurs, contraception (all the methods of b.c. including natural family planning); and clinic procedures and policies. At the onset, classes held with the teen clinic were scheduled from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. , once a month at each site. After teen clinic was