THE Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, in collaboration with the Division of Youth Services, completed a 20-hour intensive training of 10 teen educators hired under the newly implemented PATCH CNMI program.
The Providers and Teens Communicating for Health or PATCH Teen Educator Program supports youth and young adults in becoming actively involved in their health care. PATCH promotes open, honest, and medically accurate conversations between adolescents and their healthcare providers with the goal of improving the way youth access, receive, and experience healthcare.
Teen Educators are trained to facilitate learning sessions and workshops to educate their peers on how to manage their health care and provide them with information to help build their skills to navigate health services. Additionally, the Teen Educators will provide training sessions to community organizations, medical providers and nurses, and other youth serving agencies to build their knowledge and capacity to be able to provide youth-friendly services. These workshops aim to provide youth serving organizations or agencies with the knowledge and understanding about teen concerns, fears, and preferences in healthcare settings as well as strategies for improving communication and building trusting relationship with teens.
Through funding made available by the national Association for Maternal and Child Health Programs, the CHCC hired 10 Teen Educators who come from various high schools throughout Saipan.
The PATCH CNMI Teen Educators are: Danyana Sunshyne Borja, Benicia Sablan, Lydia Salas; Shawn Salas; Leinucia Teregeyo; Kaitlyn Punzalan; Shahedur Rahman; Ivanajemay Dela Cruz; Aiyana Manglona; and Taylor Cruz. The CHCC team comprises of Gerald Crisostomo, PATCH Coordinator and Health Promotion Intern; Jasilyn Perez, Adolescent & Reproductive Health Program Manager; and Shiella Deray, Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs Program Manager. The DYS team includes Mariah Barcinas, Intervention Specialist, and Christine Aldan, Caseworker.
For more information on the PATCH CNMI Program or to request a Teen Health Educator workshop, contact the CHCC Public Health Services Maternal, Infant, Child, and Adolescent Health or MICAH Programs at (670) 236-8709.
For more information about its programs, follow CHCC @cnmichcc on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; visit https://www.chcc.health; or call (670) 234-8950.
Ten teen educators have been hired under the newly implemented Providers and Teens Communicating for Health or PATCH CNMI program.
