Program targets teen health issues

By Emily Richmond

Monday, Feb. 2, 2004 | 10:46 a.m.

In an effort to better coordinate education and health programs for Nevada's students -- and particularly to address the problems of teen suicide and depression -- state education officials announced Saturday the creation of a cooperative program.

The Center for Health and Learning will tackle adolescent health concerns ranging from depression to nutrition to drug and alcohol use, said Gary Waters, president of the state Board of Education. Waters, who spearheaded the new program, announced its launch at Saturday's meeting.

Waters said he was motivated to launch the project after studying an action plan drafted by a team of state agencies for reducing risky adolescent behaviors such as drug use and unprotected sex. While the Education Department's Office of Child Nutrition and School Health contributed to the report, Waters said he wanted to see a specific program dedicated to the task.

"We need to be directly involved," Waters said. "If we want student achievement to improve, we need to make sure our kids are healthy, making smart choices and getting what they need."

Sally Jost, assistant director and chief nurse of the Clark County School District's health services, praised the program.

"What tends to happen with health promotion is it gets set aside when there are more pressing mandates to be met," Jost said. "This gives us a way to make the issues and concerns top priorities."

Also spurring the need for the center was a possible partnership with Columbia University, Waters said. The university was interested in providing financial support to put its adolescent suicide screening tool, TeenScreen, into more Nevada schools but wanted better structure in place at the state's end for distributing and tracking the project.

Waters said he is planning to meet with officials from Columbia University this week to tell them the center is on its way.

"I want TeenScreen in every school in this state," Waters said. "There's nothing more tragic than losing a young person to suicide and we all know Nevada's statistics are scary."

In 1998, the most recent year for which figures are available, Nevada's teen suicide rate was the second highest in the nation -- 13.8 suicides for every 100,000 teens.

The Nevada Youth Risk Behavior Survey, given every two years statewide, showed a decline in 2003 in the number of teens who said they had seriously considered or attempted suicide in the prior 12 months. But there was an increase in students who said they felt depressed enough to stop doing regular activities.

TeenScreen is currently being used by the Clark County School District at its six in-school health centers as part of a pilot program.

With parental permission, students first fill out a detailed questionnaire, and then those whose answers suggest areas of concern use a CD-ROM.

Judy Ludwig, hired by the Clark County Health District to coordinate the in-school health centers, said the TeenScreen program has been successful.

Of the thousands of students using TeenScreen in schools nationwide, 15 to 20 percent were identified as being depressed or in need of mental health treatment, Ludwig said. In Clark County, where TeenScreen has been used since the fall of 2002, 35 percent of students screened were identified as in need of help, Ludwig said.

Clark County's figures are significantly higher than the national average in part because the TeenScreen program is only used in at-risk schools, Ludwig said.

"We're dealing with high minority populations from low-income families without access to health care," Ludwig said. "The odds of (the students) getting help before they come to us are low."

The percentage of students identified as depressed or in need of mental health counseling has been higher than what staff was predicting, Ludwig said.

"The percentages are actually higher than what we saw countywide on the (youth risk behavior survey)," Ludwig said.

In 2003 20 percent of Clark County high school students surveyed said they had seriously considered suicide in the prior 12 months compared with 18 percent statewide. In Clark County 31.7 percent of high schoolers surveyed said they had felt sad or hopeless enough to stop doing regular activities. That percentage was 29.9 statewide.