History & Goals | Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
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Welcome

Welcome to the Adolescent Health Project of the Jenna Welch Women's Center. Thank you for choosing us for your women's health needs. We hope you find this educational website helpful in answering all of the questions you may have about sexuality, contraception, and healthy living.

History and Goals of the JWWC Adolescent Health Project

Midland and Ector county adolescent teens have much higher than national average live birth rates and regional repeat teen live birth rates are among the highest in the nation. There are plenty of outpatient and inpatient health resources for pregnant teens but few aimed at pregnancy prevention. Pregnancy prevention interventions are crucial during early adolescence. Diabetes mellitus, cervical, ovarian, uterine, and lung cancers, alcoholism, severe depression, high blood pressure, obesity, sexually transmitted infections and infertility also require focused prevention interventions during adolescence.

Tool Kit for Teen Care

Utilizing the "Tool Kit for Teen Care", developed by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), to help facilitate comprehensive patient assessment, examination, education, and treatment, the goals of this project include:

  1. Provision of customized and consistent high quality adolescent preventative healthcare.
  2. Utilization of internet and other technologies to facilitate healthcare access and information.
  3. Creation of an adolescent clinical research cohort.
  4. Improving adolescent health literacy rates through educational and community outreach initiatives.
  5. Demonstrate positive change in baseline health measures for Permian Basin adolescent women.


In 2010 the Laura Bush Institute of the Permian Basin received a $25,000 grant from the Marshall Verne Ross Foundation for the naming and designation of an adolescent examination room within the Jenna Welch Women's Center. This examination room is customized to suit the needs of the female adolescent population and provides an adolescent friendly environment for teens and their caregivers. Additionally, teens have access to educational materials to use for introduction or reinforcement of health information. Furthermore, a $10,000 grant from the Helen Greathouse Foundation was received in order to acquire the necessary equipment and support for the utilization of wireless and cellular technology to provide the finest and quickest healthcare access and information. A $20,000 grant from the Permian Basin Foundation and a $25,000 grant from the Buddy Davidson Foundation have also been received and will be utilized to reach the goals of this project.