More Than Medicine
Health Education Classes Promote Community's Well-Being

BY JENNIFER YUAN

Parents of preteens have all been there. Sooner or later, it's time for the talk. And more often than not, it's awkward and embarrassing for everyone involved. Luckily, help is available.

Penny Bertridge, R.N., instructor of the Heart to Heart program.

For the past two years, preteens and their parents have packed the Freidenrich Auditorium at Packard Hospital to laugh and learn about the joys and challenges of growing up. The popular Heart to Heart program offers "girls only" and "boys only" series, which get kids and their parents talking about puberty, dating, and dozens of other prickly topics. In a safe setting where all questions are fair game, parents learn to overcome their own fear and embarrassment, and kids learn that their parents are their best source of information.

Programs such as Heart to Heart have always been a part of Packard's presence in the local community. Working with schools and other organizations, the Hospital is committed to educating children about their health and well-being and providing reliable information to their families.

In a pilot program this year at Terman Middle School in Palo Alto, 8th graders learned to handle peer pressure and risk-taking behaviors through Packard's Healthy Choices—Smart Decisions program. Covering topics such as body image, nutrition and exercise, smoking, drinking, and sex, the program helps preteens make positive choices for themselves. Terman was the first school to test-drive this curriculum, which will be expanded to other local schools next year.

"We don't lecture the kids," says Nancy Sanchez, manager of community relations. "We show them the resources available to them for resisting social pressures. It's important to educate and support them during the critical years before adolescence."