Panhandle Health District

8500 N. Atlas Road

Hayden, Idaho 83835

www2.state.id.us/phd1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:      January 24, 2007                                                           

Contact:

Brittany Baeumel

Health Education Specialist  

(208) 415-5143 

        or                                                                                                

Cynthia Taggart

Public Information Officer

(208) 415-5108

Released by: Jeanne Bock, Director

                                                             Teens Teach Teens the Sense of Abstinence

              Coeur d’Alene—Panhandle Health District will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the successful Peers Encouraging Abstinent Kids (PEAK) program with a series of mentor trainings starting January 29 in Priest River.

              PEAK is a teen abstinence program that started in Bonners Ferry in 1996 after the state’s teen pregnancy rate for kids 15-17 years old hit 32.9 per 1,000 in 1995. After the program had operated for eight years, the state’s teen pregnancy rate in the 15-17 age group dropped to 20.9 per 1,000.

              PEAK enlists high school students to deliver its abstinence-based message to junior high students. Older teens learn to help younger teens understand the risks of early sexual involvement. They share with younger students coping strategies to resist peer and social pressure to have sex and teach them how to say no.

              After high school students complete the training, they work in middle school health classes for one hour each week for six weeks under the supervision of middle school instructors.

              Priest River High students will train with Brittany Baeumel, Panhandle Health District health education specialist, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Jan. 29, at the Priest River Congregational Church.

              On Feb. 7, PEAK training will move to Bonners Ferry, where it will celebrate its anniversary with talks by the state program director and principals from Bonners Ferry High and Bonners Ferry Middle School. The training is at the University of Idaho Boundary County Extension from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

              On February 13, Baeumel will train Shoshone County mentors 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Elks in Wallace.

              On Feb. 27, Lake Pend Oreille High students will train 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at East Bonner County Library. And on March 14, Baeumel will take the training to St. Maries and Kootenai students from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Grange Hall at the St. Maries Fairgrounds.

              For information, call Baeumel at 415-5143.

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