April 28, 2010
For Immediate Release 4/28/10
Media Contact: Melissa Kadish
202-994-8874
mcmmsk@gwumc.edu

Study Shows Teens’ Health Care Needs Unmet in Ward 8 Youth Testify at D.C. Council; Cite Poor Access to Health Care and Recommend Improvements

WASHINGTON, DC – The Youth Health Coordinating Council (YHCC), sponsored by the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, reported to the D.C. City Council Health Committee April 21 on findings from its access-to-healthcare project conducted by the teens in Ward 8.

“Approximately 39 percent of the Ward 8 population consists of children and young people, 19 years or younger,” said Donna Behrens, associate director of the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools. D.C. youth are at greater risk for poorer health and life outcomes than youth in other parts of the U.S., and this is especially true in Ward 8, where poverty, violence, and poor access to health and social services plague its residents.”

Despite the presence of a variety of community-based health facilities, adolescent health data indicate that something more or different is needed in Ward 8 to address teen health issues. Tenisha Edwards, a senior at Friendship Collegiate Academy and a resident of Ward 8, commented, “We worry about our health, HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and obesity. We also worry about neighborhoods we enter and our safety in general, but we want our neighborhood and community to be a safer and healthier place to live and grow up.”

But, reported Wayne Thomas, a senior at Anacostia High School, when they tried to make appointments at their local health centers, “we found you could not make an appointment in the later afternoon. When we called in the middle of the day, there was a really long wait before you could talk to someone or you had to leave your phone number and then they would call you back. If you are a teen, you do not want to have a health clinic call you back. You might not be able to talk privately when they call back and you do not know where you are going to be.”

Through funding from the Horning Family Foundation, the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools has engaged young people from Ward 8 as members of YHCC to investigate health issues of concern to young people and explore community health resources available to address these issues.

YHCC research and proposed solutions can be accessed at http://www.healthinschools.org/en/Publications-and-Resources/Publications/Research-Papers.aspx 

About the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools
The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools is a nonpartisan resource center that builds on a 20-year commitment to achieve better health outcomes for children and adolescents through school-connected health programs and services. CHHCS’s Web site, www.healthinschools.org, provides up-to-date information for health professionals, educators and families to assist in promoting the health of children through school-connected programs. 

About The George Washington University Medical Center
The George Washington University Medical Center is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary academic health center that has consistently provided high-quality medical care in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area since 1824. The Medical Center comprises the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the 11th oldest medical school in the country; the School of Public Health and Health Services, the only such school in the nation’s capital; GW Hospital, jointly owned and operated by a partnership between The George Washington University and a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc.; and The GW Medical Faculty Associates, an independent medical practice with nearly 550 physicians in 47 clinical specialties. For more information on GWUMC, visit www.gwumc.edu