McLeod Medical Center Dillon has been awarded funds from the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The primary purpose of funding is to educate youth using evidence-based interventions to prevent teen pregnancies in South Carolina, with a focus on high priority populations. McLeod Dillon will work with the local community to further these efforts.
The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) received federal funding under the Affordable Care Act of 2010. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, or DHEC, serves as the administrator of the funds.
PREP aims to educate youth on both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. The interventions used must be evidence-based, proven to change behavior, such as delaying sexual activity, or for those already sexually active, increasing condom and other contraceptive use.
Rhonda Altman of McLeod Dillon will oversee the program. “We have engaged local community agencies and organizations, particularly those who provide services to vulnerable adolescent populations, to work along with us on this project,” she said.
Dillon School District 4, CareSouth Carolina and the Dillon County Boys and Girls Youth Center have partnered with McLeod Dillon and the SC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy in the program.
Dillon County has historically been among the highest in teen births in the state. In recognizing this as a significant community disparity, McLeod Dillon formed the Dillon County Teen Pregnancy Task Force, a community work group willing to support a comprehensive approach to preventing teen pregnancy and STDs.
When the Task Force was initiated, Dillon County’s teen pregnancy rate was second in the state. Over the last several years, the group’s active involvement has contributed to the decline in the number of teen births ages 15-19 in Dillon County from 91 births in 2010 to 48 births in 2015.
