Prof's clinic treats local teens for free

David Johnson, a 17-year-old West Philadelphia high school student, needs a physical to be allowed to take gym class in school. For David and other teens in the Philadelphia area, that physical used to be hard to come by. But, since February, free health care has been easily available thanks to Nursing Professor Ellen Marie Whelan. Whelan, with several nursing students, started a free teen clinic in the West Philadelphia Community Center last winter. The clinic, created to provide area youths with "teen-friendly" service in a clean environment, has treated over 100 teens since opening. The clinic provides all sorts of medical care from routine check-ups to pregnancy tests and family planning. Whelan, a nurse practitioner, is the only one on staff who can give medical care. "We wanted a clinic that is confidential and, although nurse practitioners cannot yet prescribe medications in the state of Pennsylvania, we can hand out birth control and medication on site," Whelan said. Robert Atkins, a nursing student who has been a volunteer at the clinic since the beginning of last summer, said a lot of community outreach has been done to publicize the clinic. "We really got out into the streets and spread the word that we were there," Atkins said. "I learned a lot about the community and inner city in terms of what teens are thinking about parenting and health care." Nursing student Lindsay Smith, who also works at the clinic, said she is involved in the counseling aspects of the clinic and community outreach projects. "Working with teenagers is very rewarding," Smith said. "I definitely want to work with teens and family planning in the future." In order to finance the project, Whelan went through Spectrum Health Services, a neighboring health care provider, and set up a branch at the community center. Recently, Healthy Start has given the clinic a second grant. With this grant, new programs will be added to the center, including a well baby clinic and a health education program. Although the clinic is still in its first year, everyone involved felt that already they have helped many people. "We have seen over 100 patients between the ages of 13 to 18 since the start of the clinic," Atkins said. The hours of the clinic are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 2:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. – after school hours which make the clinic convenient for teens. "The teens are wonderful," Whelan said. "Adolescents are a niche in the health care system that's been pretty ignored. It's a high-risk time and we need a place for them to go for advice and care."