To lower teen pregnancy rate, Calhoun County started a reproductive health program

Though the teen pregnancy rate has dropped in Calhoun County, it's still above the state average. Officials want to do something to push it lower.

The Calhoun County Public Health Department will soon have a new program at its clinics in Battle Creek and Albion called Choices, which will allow men or women who do not have a physician and who may not have health insurance to access reproductive health services.

"Choices came about from the standpoint of giving people choices in their reproductive health and so they could come to us and get served for whatever their reproductive health needs are," Calhoun County Public Health Department Personal Health Manager Michelle Thorne said.

Choices will offer pregnancy prevention services as well as services to help men and women who are ready to start a family but are having difficulty doing so. They will also be given the opportunity to sign up for Medicaid and connected with a physician if a pregnancy occurs.

STD screening and treating is already done at the Health Department clinics, but the hope is that Choices will help to increase prevention of STDs.

The Health Department saw a significant increase in STD cases from 2017 to 2018 with gonorrhea cases up 16% and chlamydia cases up 9.5% for teenagers between 15 and 19.

Health officials became increasingly concerned about the number of teen pregnancies and infant death rates after Planned Parenthood closed its Calhoun County location in 2015 because of a decline in patients. 

Patients who did utilize Planned Parenthood could go to the other locations in Kalamazoo or Jackson counties or they could use Grace Health, a federally qualified health center in Battle Creek that has a full-range of family planning services.

But even with those options county health officials were still seeing teenage pregnancy rates they wished were lower.

In 2017, there were 34.9 teen pregnancies for every 1,000 15 to 19-year-olds in the county, down from 37.9 in 2016 but still above the state's average of 27.3.

"At that time the discussion from the Calhoun County Public Health Department was that we need to have these services accessible to individuals in need in Calhoun County," Thorne said.

The county reached out to the state and got $100,000 in funding. 

"A lot of people look down on family planning because they associate family planning with abortions, [but] family planning funding from the state prohibits you to do abortions," Thorne said.

The county now has one nurse practitioner on board and is in search of another for Choices. It can be difficult to find someone since private practices often pay more than public health.

"You have to be very passionate to come and work in public health programs," Thorne said. 

The hope is Choices not only helps with the teen pregnancy rates, but also decreases the infant death rate.

The three-year infant death average in Calhoun County was 7.2 per 1,000 births from 2015 to 2017. The county's rate has been stable since 2013 but is still above the state's three-year average rate of 6.7 over the same period of time.

"Good pre-conception is a typically a good factor for having a healthy pregnancy and having a healthy baby that will make it to one year of age," Calhoun County Public Health Department Health Educator Alyse Nichols said. "If we can get those services in place and people can plan out their pregnancy, they will typically have a better pregnancy and a better birth outcome."

Event: How to talk to your kids about sex

The Health Department has a Talk Early & Talk Often event planned for parents or guardians to learn how to talk to their children about abstinence and sexuality. 

The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17, at the Calhoun Area Career Center, 475 E Roosevelt Ave. in Battle Creek

The first 20 families to register will receive a $20 gift card at the event.

Register at www.surveymonkey.com/r/VFWDC6T or call Nichols at 269- 969-6482.

Contact Kalea Hall at (269) 966-0697 or khall@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @bykaleahall.