Teen pregnancy in the Basin is alarmingly high and TriCounty Health Department is working to reduce the trend. According to TriCounty’s Health Promotion Director Jeramie Tubbs, the health department recently applied for and was awarded grant funding to combat teen pregnancy. Data shows that the TriCounty Health District’s adolescent birth rate in 2014 was 39.8 per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 19 compared to the state of Utah’s 19.4 birth rate. The Utah Department of Health reports a significantly elevated teen pregnancy rate in the TriCounty Area at 13.1% compared to the state’s 7.8%. “It’s clear we have an elevated risk factor in teen pregnancy that is impacting the health of both mothers and babies in our communities and so we applied for funds to try to help address that risk,” says Tubbs. “We are thrilled to be awarded and look forward to working with community partners to roll out this pilot program in our communities.” The program being piloted is the Teen Outreach Program (TOP) which aims at empowering teens with the tools needed to build a foundation of healthy behaviors and life skills. The program has been reported to help teens lower risk of academic failure, dropout, teen pregnancy and school suspension by more than 50 percent.
