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<br /> System, the Orange County Health Department, Department of Social Services, Juvenile Court,
<br /> Mental Health Center and church community. The program utilizes a nurse practitioner/social
<br /> worker team based in the school system who meet with adolescents considered at high risk,
<br /> including pregnant teens, parenting teens, teens at risk of becoming pregnant, depressed teens,
<br /> teens not attending school regularly, and teens in need of mental health counseling. Counseling,
<br /> guidance, referral and family home visits are provided to reduce these risks. As a result of
<br /> this networking, the needs of adolescents in terms of service delivery became a goal of the
<br /> entire county and adolescents completed their education, pregnancy rates dropped, adolescent
<br /> fathers were involved in their child's birth, and resources such as scholarships for day care and
<br /> actual day care services were developed. Major conclusions of the program were that a broader
<br /> range of health care services for adolescents was needed to address the medical, social and
<br /> behavioral needs of adolescents in Orange County with an emphasis on prevention, behavioral
<br /> counseling and extension of services to the early adolescent age group. Further
<br /> recommendation was that adolescents should be able to go to one location for evaluation and
<br /> subsequent referral, as needed.
<br /> in 1988 a program of comprehensive health care services for teens was begun in Northern
<br /> Orange County through the joint efforts of the Orange Counth Health Department and the
<br /> Adolescents-in-Need Project. The clinic staff consists of a medical provider from the
<br /> Adolescents-in-Need Project, a school nurse, clinic manager, lab technician, and health aide,
<br /> employed by the Health Department. This creates a loop from school to clinic to home if
<br /> necessary, and back to school. The Teen Clinic/Adolescents-in-Need concept currently reaches
<br /> youth with information about services through the school nurse employed by the local health
<br /> department, the school nurse employed by the school system, guidance counselors from the
<br /> middle schools and the high school, coaches at these three schools,juvenile court counselors,
<br /> mental health providers, health department staff, and peer helpers at the high school. Thus
<br /> students can receive information about the health and counseling services from multiple entry
<br /> points.
<br /> To facilitate expansion of the above project to Southern Orange a steering committee consisting
<br /> of representatives from the major agencies such as Department of Social Services, Mental
<br /> Health, Public Health, Housing, local medical providers, schools, and court counselors will be
<br /> organized to advocate for use of the clinic and make referrals to the clinic on a regular basis
<br /> through their agencies. Through the Chapel Hill/Carrboro School System, organizations such
<br /> as The School Health Advisory Board, made up of parents, professionals and students, the School
<br /> Governance Committee, and Putting Children First will provide an opportunity to promote the
<br /> clinic. Student groups such as The Peer Counseling program, Proconian(school newspaper),
<br /> Student Government, and Teen Awareness will be informed about the clinic services. A Teen
<br /> advisory Board will be formed in each school system as a major format for information sharing
<br /> of students' needs with service providers.
<br /> School nurses, counselors, Adolescents-in-Need staff, and coaches, as well as other clinics
<br /> within the OCHD are referral sources for the Northern Orange Clinic. The school nurse is the
<br /> most frequent referral and follow up source in the existing project and is predicted to be in the
<br /> Chapel Hill/Carrboro extension plan. Nurses from the middle and high schools have been
<br /> involved in the planning process thus far and will continue to be a major referral source.
<br /> School guidance counselors are the second most frequent source of referral to the clinic.
<br /> Counselors in Southern Orange County will be educated about the availability of services and
<br /> how to access the system for their students. Coaching staff have been and will continue to be an
<br /> invaluable asset in reaching males and females through use of the Adolescent Clinic for sports
<br /> physicals at which time preventive education and counseling about developmentally appropriate
<br /> topics can take place. Other clinics within the OCHD will be informed about the clinic's services
<br /> and will be encouraged to make referrals for continued continuity of care. All of the above
<br /> individuals and agencies will be thoroughly informed about the services available at both clinics
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