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Dr. Arthur Townsend conducts the “Hello Me” workshop with local teens.

On a pleasant Saturday morning in April, 10 teenage girls met at the offices of Associates: Obstetrics and Gynecology to learn more about themselves and their bodies. With information packets, diagrams and demonstration tools, a doctor and nurse spent the next few hours discussing feminine health and hygiene. After the teens took a tour of the exam rooms and learned about a gynecological office visit, the clinicians spent time answering important questions. This new interactive outreach program called “Hello Me” was designed with the mission of empowering young women to respect their bodies and their health.

“The whole idea of why it’s called ‘Hello Me’ is to get the focus on themselves, off of what their friends think and what their boyfriends think,” said creator of the program, OB/GYN, Dr. Arthur Townsend. “This is their opportunity to ask questions and nobody is going to laugh or be upset. What we talk about stays here.”

“Hello Me” is a progressive workshop series designed by Townsend to educate girls age 14 to 18 about feminine healthcare and hygiene, as well as making healthy choices. Straying away from a lecture format, the novelty of the program is that it instead focuses on an intimate group of girls (no more than 20) and takes place in the comfortable environment of Townsend’s office waiting room. There girls receive positive and accurate information directly from healthcare providers about their bodies, sex and self- esteem, without their mothers hovering over their shoulders, and without preaching. Parents enroll their daughters for the workshops and have an opportunity to meet the doctors. They are also encouraged to write down questions they want addressed by the staff, but in order for teens to feel secure enough to engage the instructors, explained Townsend, it’s best that parents aren’t present during the workshop.

The first class, Healthy Bodies, focuses particularly on the doctor’s office visit and basic anatomy and hygiene. While all parent and teen questions are answered, there are certain topics that Townsend makes sure are not overlooked such as tracking the menstrual cycle, information about the HPV vaccine GARDASIL®, and general body image issues, the same topics that he regularly discusses with patients. He also works to dispel myths and quell common fears about visiting the gynecologist.

“We’ll talk about the doctor’s visit, what it is and what it isn’t,” he explained. “Hopefully that will lower some of their anxiety.”

In women’s healthcare for the past 14 years, Townsend has spent much of his clinical time counseling patients on healthy behaviors and decisions. Time and again Townsend has seen the same story play out; he talks with a teenage patient about her dreams and grand plans for the future, only to see her end up pregnant in high school and never accomplish her goals.

“Have there been discouraging times? Yes,” admitted Townsend. “We identify the (risks of unhealthy choices) and give them strategies for avoiding those pitfalls before something happens. You hope some of those things you say stick.”

It was during staff discussions about these issues that the idea struck – sharing wellness information and strategies on a larger scale offered the potential to reach more young women.

“This is an opportunity to do teaching, counseling and basic health evaluations to identify risk factors,” explained Townsend, “which include not only the avoidance of STDs, but also the avoidance of drug use, (as well as) peer pressure, anorexia, body image and self-esteem.”

Teenagers are often faced with situations where there are no parents around and no voice on their shoulder, asserted Townsend, but when they have the right information, they can learn to make informed choices about whether a situation or behavior is good or bad.

“It really isn’t even about what’s right or what’s wrong; it’s what’s right or what’s wrong for you,” he elaborated. “What’s going to help you and what are some of the things that are going to hurt you?”

The second class in the series is the Healthy Choices workshop which focuses on sexual health. In this special session teens will take part in frank discussions about abstinence, safe sex and the health consequences associated with both. They will also receive information on contraception, pregnancy and STDs, because of the high prevalence of STDs in Shelby County.

Townsend also makes an effort to develop strategies for parents who are reluctant to discuss these issues with their daughters. Many times mothers rely on Townsend to provide “the talk” to their daughters, but it’s more important for parents to talk with their daughters directly, Townsend insisted.

“It’s a hard thing for parents to discuss with their kids because maybe they don’t have the language or maybe they have done some things where they don’t feel like they’re on the moral high ground to have this conversation,” added Townsend. “But that doesn’t matter.”

Kids respond better to their relatives for guidance, he maintained, because ultimately they’ll have the biggest impact. He hopes his classes can help break down the wall between parent and child and encourage those vital conversations. So far the response has been encouraging.

“People realize the need for this,” Townsend said. “The real issue is to improve young women’s lives and enhance their opportunities for having a better future.”



May 2008

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