Fall Health and Wellness 2022

These three
aspects — physical,
emotional and social wellbeing
- are all interconnected,
and all of them require care.
The Houston County Department
of Public Health (DPH)
provides a number of services specific
to teens, some of them even free or
anonymous in some cases.
Three
aspects: physical,
emotional and social well-being...
are all interconnected, and
all of them require care.
Specific to women’s health, the health department provides physical assessments and contraceptives as
well as hygiene products and woman may need.
DPH provides full body and sports physicals as well as STD testing. They also speak with teens about
sexual risk and reproductive factors and can visit schools upon request. They also provide birth control, condoms,
pregnancy testing and counseling.
In collaboration with Mercer University, the health department also offers free family counseling via one of
their students.
DPH also provides dental care, immunizations and a litany of other services available to teens.
Finally, for any teen looking to ask health professionals questions specific to their bodies, advice on
dating, relationships or “risky” behaviors, the Department of Public Health offers a free, anonymous text line
for teens. The free text line number is: (478) 957-7858.
“We do everything we can when a teen comes here to respect their privacy, and to protect their
privacy,” Sikes said. “We make teens a priority - if a teen needs us, we will do everything
in our power to get them in and get them seen at a time that is convenient, that doesn’t
require them to miss school or anything like that. We will make their visits a priority
on holidays and after school, so they can reach us when they need to.”
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