Wood Co. hiring teens to share their voices with PATCH [Video]

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. (WSAW) – The Providers and Teens Communicating for Health program at the Wood County Health Department will give teens a say in their health programming starting in October.

PATCH will hire a team of six to eight teens to teach their peers and lend their perspectives to community health campaigns.

“I think a lot of times, teenagers, they need to be heard,” Community Health Worker Alyssa Gollon said. “They like having their voices known and how they feel about things, and how to talk to them better to give them better healthcare.”

The teen consultants will give presentations in the schools, as county employees believe students react better to learning from their peers compared to adults.

“Hearing it from their peers is just such a world of a difference,” Gollon said.

They’ll focus on issues that especially impact younger students, like drug use and mental health struggles. …