Students, teachers, parents, community leaders, the health department, Haywood County Schools Coordinated School Health, LeBonheur and several other health-related fields came together for an event that will hopefully be the beginning of a very positive direction in Haywood County. The Haywood Teen Parenting/Teen Pregnancy Prevention Council held its first Health Summit on March 31 at the HHS Career and Tech building.

Representatives from focus groups, including parents, students, educators, health related, politically related and even law enforcement met to discuss key issues surrounding this topic. Mayor Bill Rawls opened the event. Gwen Gavin, Pregnancy Prevention Advocate, made introductions. Roger Jowers, from the Jackson Regional Health Department, presented a very interesting time line comparing teen pregnancy rates to each decade since the 1960s with very interesting results. Each focus group answered the same five questions from their perspective. All the information was turned in and will be compiled by the committee to form an action plan.

The committee thanks everyone who participated and invites anyone who is interested to become involved in the group.