Girls Inc. ‘ambassadors’ preach safe sex habits

LYNN – Two Teen Health Ambassadors from Girls Inc. passed out hot chocolate and condoms outside of Lynn English High School last week, just like they do every week.Their efforts are aimed at educating their peers about healthy choices and the prevention of unwanted teen pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDS. By partnering with the North Shore Medical Center mobile van, the ambassadors offer outreach outside of Lynn’s public high schools twice a week for a few hours after school.Each day, the van hosts 30 to 50 students seeking contraception, referrals to local hospitals and health centers, and information from professionals and the peer leaders about safe sex, according to Tonya Duester, the Youth Leadership Advisor at Girls Inc.”What we hear from many young adults is that they can’t afford condoms, so we make those available and we educate teens on how to use the contraception correctly, how to prevent STDs and things like that depending on their prior knowledge,” explained Duester.Genesis Barrientos and Michelle Garcia are two of the ambassadors from Lynn English who help educate their peers in the van. Garcia said she thinks the presence of the ambassadors makes it easier for teens to utilize the services offered.”It breaks down the barrier of not wanting to go to adults for information because we’re their age, and they see us here and feel more comfortable,” she explained.Barrientos said that she and her classmates were taught about STDs and teen pregnancy as sophomores, but that abstinence was the only form of prevention discussed.”Just the statistics alone from the surveys we hand out show that teens are having sex, so we should make sure they’re doing it safely,” Barrientos said. “A lot of people don’t know about all the different options for contraception.””There’s still the abstinence only thing, and the world is changing,” Garcia added. “I wish we could actually go inside the schools and distribute information and condoms.”English Principal Thomas Strangie pointed out that the health curriculum is district wide, and that administration doesn’t have much say in the matter.”The van is out there; I have no input either way. It just shows up, and it’s not a matter of option, though my views are probably different,” Strangie said.Although the sex-education curriculum in Lynn teaches abstinence, Duester said the schools have been mostly supportive and some teachers notify students of the van’s weekly presence and encourage them to visit.”They don’t promote or give out contraception in the schools, but the van has made it easier for them to direct students to the resources, and we see that in the number of students who come to the van,” Duester said.Family planners from Lynn Community Health Center also are available on the van, so students can make appointments to receive testing, contraception, or counseling. Clinical Assistant Morithdey Heang-Ros said a lot of students who visit the van don’t know about the local resources that are available.”Sometimes they don’t know, or they are afraid that their parents will find out, but everything is completely confidential. We will never tell anyone,” Heang-Ros explained.As Barrientos pointed out, the combination of information and access offered through the van has been a successful initiative for safer sex, especially because it’s a way for Girls Inc. to reach both genders.”In January we added the question ‘have you ever been tested for HIV/AIDS?’ to our survey, and from January to February the number of people who answered ‘yes’ went up 50 percent, so that shows that just asking the question pushed people to go get tested.”The teen ambassadors also run workshops on a variety of topics, such as pregnancy prevention and healthy relationships, at community organizations.Duester said that in the past, the ambassadors have done workshops about contraception in the high school health classes, whereas the teachers “tip-toe around it.””I love having our teens go in and do the workshops, but I th