Teens form line of defense for at-risk youth

LIBERTY, NY — Let’s talk candidly about sex.

While public apprehension focuses on the prospect of potential attacks from terrorists, a silent intruder has been mounting a steady incursion against America’s youth. According to a joint study issued in February 2004 by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the University of North Carolina, “Half of all young Americans will get a sexually transmitted disease (STD) by the age of 25, perhaps because they are ignorant about protection or embarrassed to ask for it.”

The report goes on to say that there were nine million new cases of STDs among teens and young adults aged 15 to 24 in the year 2000. The current government policy of abstinence-only education “would only increase those rates,” the report concludes. According to John Nelson, a pediatric nurse practitioner of the Catskill Adolescent Treatment Services (CATS), HIV is also on the rise among young people as well as older men.

Alyssa Fraser, a junior from Monticello High School, is doing something about this serious threat. She is one of a group of Sullivan County teens who work 12 hours a week over the course of three evenings on the CATS Healthmobile as peer educators and outreach workers. They travel to selected communities, targeting at-risk adolescents who lack access to health care services.

Their mission is to educate teens about the dangers of unprotected sex, distribute condoms on request and provide the counseling prior to and following HIV testing. In Fraser’s view, “Handing out condoms to teens doesn’t encourage kids to have sex. It just affords them protection if they do.” Nelson concurs.

The group’s counseling responsibility came as a result of completing a certification course funded by the New York State Department of Health, given this past summer. Along with Fraser, Carmelo Rivera, Leyden Johnson, Katrena Dean and Craig Kozak of Monticello High School, Ashley Taggart of Livingston Manor and Dan Patton of Sullivan West, are the state’s only adolescent pre- and post-test counselors. Rivera, Fraser and Patton have already counseled teens.

One aspect of the counseling is educating teens about how HIV has a three-month window before it shows up in tests. Test results that are negative following a sexual encounter don’t tell the whole story. If teens don’t use protection, they continue to increase their susceptibility to HIV or the most common STDs, including human papilomavirus, trichomoniasis and chlamydia, which account for 88 percent of STDs in 15 to 24 year olds.

Asked about trends in current teen sexual activity, Fraser spoke from her local frame of reference. “The number of kids engaging in sexual activity is on the rise, and the age at which they are beginning to do so is dropping.”

Fraser believes that teens are more likely to communicate with other teens than they are with parents or other adults, especially since confidentiality is a hallmark of the CATS program. Fraser knows the current crisis is serious but says that abstinence, while it remains a choice, is not a panacea. “Face it. Many kids are going to have sex so they need to be prepared,” she said.

Research backs her up. Of the 18.9 million new cases of STDs in the year 2000, 9.1 million (48 percent) were among people aged 15 to 24, the CDC reports.

But isn’t sex education in schools helping? “Not really,” said Nelson. The schools meet the NYS Department of Health mandated hours of AIDS education but don’t prepare teens for the reality of sexual encounters, she said.

Also, schools refrain from the controversy that could arise from distributing condoms. Some communities such as Livingston Manor, Monticello, Liberty and Fallsburg have shown receptivity to the van’s visits.

Nelson performs all of the actual HIV testing, which is done either by oral swabbing or a simple blood test. Positive test results warrant a second test to confirm the results. Nelson can be reached at 845/794-3379 for an appointment for HIV/STD counseling, testing and care, pregnancy testing or crisis intervention (problems at home, depression, substance abuse, etc.).

Upcoming van visits (from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.) include Liberty every Wednesday, Livingston Manor on October 21, Sullivan County Community College on October 5, Monticello on October 28, Roscoe on October 7, Fallsburg on September28, and Woodridge on October 14.

“I like helping other teens and knowing that something is being done,” Fraser said.

This week’s youth in focus is a serious, socially conscious teen who is working as a first line of defense when it comes to the health of her peers. This writer salutes Fraser, her co-peers and Nelson for their efforts.