Sonoma County Releases Report Outlining Recommendations for Adolescent Health
The Sonoma County Public Health Department yesterday released a 48-page report outlining its priorities and giving recommendations for improving the mental and physical health of adolescents and young adults ages 10 to 24, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports. The recommendations of the report, titled "Sonoma County Adolescent Health Perspective," include increasing school-based clinics, encouraging HMOs to pay for preventive care, providing a toll-free teen hotline and more school counselors so "teens can talk," offering screening for children with mental health problems and offering parent education and communication skills classes to help parents be "positive role models." The report, which will be sent to more than 1,000 local health care providers and community organizations, aims to help county and not-for-profit agencies "focus their efforts and resources" but "does not by itself call for additional funding." It is one of the "first major public policy positions" that county Public Health Director Mary Maddux-Gonzalez has taken since being named to the position in June 2000, the Press-Democrat reports (Benfell, Santa Rosa Press- Democrat, 8/15).
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