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Website to answer teens’ health questions
AUSTINTOWN
Valley teens have a new online resource available should they encounter health questions.
Austintown schools, in conjunction with Help Hotline Crisis Center, recently launched a website called www.teenhealthissues.org.
The site compiles a list of area resources for each of a few dozen social issues including suicide, bullying, teen pregnancy and learning disorders.
Natalie Finamore, community and school wellness facilitator for the district, said the site started with a federal grant.
“We wrote a grant to the Ohio Department of Health a couple years ago, and we just this week started our third year with that grant,” Finamore said. “We have a partnership with Help Hotline, so through them, we collaborate to do different things within the community.”
Students did no work on the site, but will be informed of it through a series of classroom visits in the next few months. The STARS program, which stands for Students Taking A Responsible Stand, involves trained high- school students who visit the middle schools to talk about healthy relationships and how to stay drug-free.
On Dec. 3, their next classroom visit, the students will tell middle-schoolers about the resource.
Though no unique content appears on the site, it is a one-stop shop for local and national links regarding common teen issues.
Duane Piccirilli, director of Help Hotline, said the site has been around for about 10 years but only recently was enhanced with help from Austintown schools. Piccirilli plans to further market the website to teens in the area.
“It’s a place where young people can get correct information,” he said. “We have to reach young people in a much different way, and social media is the way.”
Piccirilli said teens can call Help Hotline at any time with any health- related question by dialing 330-747-2696. All calls are confidential.