- May 8, 2013
- Jennifer Salerno
If you believe in the value of pediatric vaccinations – give us just two more minutes of your time:
As you may have guessed, we are passionate about reducing health risk behaviors in adolescents here at RAAPS. But before you can reduce risk – you must first identify it. Unfortunately, risk screening is not yet standard practice among those serving our adolescent population. In healthcare we advocate the adoption of evidence-based practices that prevent avoidable illness – take vaccinations as a case in point:
We have adopted the standardized practice of pediatric vaccination because they help prevent avoidable illness and death.
So…let’s compare some numbers:
| THEN… | NOW… |
| 450-500 lives lost annually because of the measles (1950s) | 4600 lives lost each year to teen suicide |
| Polio crippled around 35,000 people each year (1950s) | About 12,000 youth infected with HIV annually |
| Up to 200,000 cases of diphtheria per year (1920s) | 228,000 15- to 20-year-old drivers injured in vehicle crashes last year |
| As many as 300,000 mumps cases reported every year (1960s) | 329,797 babies were born to teens aged 15–19 years |
Standardized risk assessments help prevent avoidable illness and death in adolescents.
With 75% of all illness and death in the teen population attributable to preventable risk behaviors we believe this is an issue that cannot be ignored.
Please join us in a call to action for all professionals working with adolescents to ensure that all teens in your population are screened with a standardized assessment on their first visit, annually and when presenting at-risk behaviors. You make a real difference in the lives of teens.
Learn more about the RAAPS screening tool by visiting our website, leave a comment below, or write us an email! Join our cause and increase screening for teens!