Deployments cause number of teen clinics to shrink

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Deployments cause number of teen clinics to shrink
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, February 19, 2008

HEIDELBERG, Germany — The deployment of doctors and community resistance have sharply reduced access to confidential medical care for teenagers in overseas military families.

Teen clinics, which have for years provided birth control, drug counseling, mental health counseling and testing for sexually transmitted infections to teens ages 15 and up — without parental consent, as provided by U.S. law — have recently reduced their hours or closed up entirely.

In Heidelberg, for instance, the teen clinic at the high school was held once weekly, with a doctor seeing about 12 teens with appointments and 30 to 60 more for immunizations. It’s held now once a month, said Sgt. Leslie Sedlak, the clinic’s noncommissioned officer in charge.

The middle school also had a teen clinic, although confidential services were not offered there. That clinic, where middle- school students could get shots and physicals, recently closed.

The reason is too few doctors, in part because of deployments. Heidelberg’s hospital had five pediatric doctors available a couple of years ago. Now there are two, with one always on-call and unavailable for clinic work, Sedlak said, leaving little time left for trips to the high school. Students who want care without discussing it with parents now must wait for weeks or go to the hospital on their own.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52598