Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital Network of Trust celebrates 20 years

ALBANY — For some teenage girls in the Albany area who have found themselves in difficult circumstances, the Network of Trust program based at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital has been there to offer an assist in making sure they can stay on their feet.

Founded 20 years ago as a way to help address the issue of teen pregnancy in the region and the health and educational barriers it presents, one of the focuses of Network of Trust, or NOT, is its teen parenting program. Implemented in three phases, it starts in the prenatal care phases and ends with parenting and employability guidance until the parents graduate from high school.

“It was created for multiple reasons,” said Hope Harrelson, one of the nurse educators involved with NOT. “Parenthood is the main reason girls drop out. We encourage them not just to stay in school, but to continue on with their secondary education. They are more prone to (pregnancy) complications, so we catch them early and get them in consistent prenatal care.

“Those stats (on teen pregnancy) … it just doesn’t affect the individual, it affects the community. If it helps the individual, it helps the community be successful.”

Tiffany Williams entered the program in 1998, at the age of 16.

“They were a positive influence,” she said. “They told us to keep it up and stay in school. I got to talk to girls experiencing the same thing I was. I was 16. Some were younger.”

While confiding in her peers and being encouraged to stay in school, Williams said her group was involved in various activities such as making baskets for the needy.

“(It was to) give us something other than being a teen mom,” she recalled.

Phase 1 is designed to involve teens in early pregnancy to improve early and consistent prenatal care, initiates prenatal education in the school setting and stresses postponing future pregnancies until after high school graduation. The next two phases provide support services after delivery; continues stressing high school graduation; conducts classes on parenting skills, life skills training, anger management, teen health and baby care; enhances options for employability and provides professional adult role models to speak on issues relating to teen parenting, emotional and physical health.

At the same time, the teen mothers and fathers are given case management and resource referrals to help them overcome whatever barriers they may face and direct them toward their needs. Educators with the program can meet them where they are, do one-on-one meetings, temporarily get childcare provided while other arrangements are made, encourage positive relationships with teachers while making up the work missed for prenatal appointments and making arrangements for them to get General Educational Development testing if it’s needed.

“It’s not about just pregnancy,” said Harrelson. “It is a holistic approach.

“We work with anyone who can remove an obstacle — whoever we need to refer to, whatever we need to do.”

Prevention of repeat pregnancies alone is a big part of the program.

“The earlier they get pregnant, the more likely they are to have a second one,” said Karen Hills, one of the other nurse educators with the program. “We encourage the delay of their second pregnancy.

“People don’t see the bigger picture. Despite that you’ve had a baby, you can move forward.”

LaVicka Stewart was in the second class of the NOT teen parenting program, and is now working as a nurse at Phoebe.

“There was a big stigma about pregnant moms in the Dougherty County School System,” she said. “We couldn’t stay in school; they had a maternity school. Network of Trust came to us.

“I was 16 at the time, and some of the other girls had other babies. We could relate to each other … it was a positive thing in my life at a negative time.”

Stewart had even more obstacles to face, growing up in a home with a single mother who was impoverished. In the class she was in, she said, all the girls knew each others’ children by name. Through the program, she was able to pick up on goal setting and job skills, and how to make good meals for her child.

It was something that has had an impact on her well into adulthood.

“We had a very good time,” she said. “I’ll never forget it … It was what led me to be a nurse. I wanted to make a difference.

It made me who I am. It made me a better person (and convinced me) that I can achieve anything.”

The advice both Williams and Stewart gives to teen parents is to never give up, set a goal and do not consider failure as an option — counsel those in the program often have the opportunity to hear from others who have been there.

“Graduates come back and speak, and the girls love it,” Harrelson said. “We don’t ask them. They email us.”

Harrelson said the average graduation rate for those in the program is 75-80 percent, compared to the state average of less than 50 percent among teen parents, and that the repeat pregnancy rate is below the state and national average.

“We definitely see a success,” she said. “If there are less repeats, they are less likely to be impoverished.”

Reflecting on what the drop-out, preterm and low-birth weight rates were 20 years ago, officials say they are satisfied with what the program has done.

“In a 20-year period, it has really come full circle,” Hills said. “We can see how it’s come full circle and see how it has truly impacted.”

Over the years, Network of Trust has branched out into other areas to offer Southwest Georgia a school nursing program, prevention of sudden cardiac death education, asthma awareness, school based health centers, the “Get a Life” teen maze, the HealthTeacher curriculum, health fairs through the Kohl’s Cares Middle School Health Program, among other things.

“Each day for 20 years the mission for all of us at the Network of Trust program has been to reach out to help our young people,” said Angie Barber, director of Network of Trust. “The school nurses, teachers, educators, the faith community all work together as trusted partners serving together. People who love others have been sharing their support for Network of Trust for 20 years. Community partners and our staff are the reason we have the program success of 20 years.

“The Network of Trust Teen Parenting program is community outreach with a heart of service for others. Thank you to our Phoebe leadership and to our community for reaching out and making a difference in the lives of others.”

Statistics from the Georgia Department of Public Health Online Analytical Statistical Information System (OASIS) shows that in 1994, the year NOT was established, there were 162 births in Dougherty County among girls ages 15-17 — making up for 10 percent of births in the area at the time. In 2012, the latest year for which OASIS had data available, there were 72 births among girls in Dougherty County within the same age group — which accounted for 5.4 percent of births in the area that year.