“When I think about my students, many of them did not have access to medical care, and many of them became teen parents,” said Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones. “I think of the challenges they faced, and as a teacher, I tried to help in the ways I could, but if I could have had a Baylor College of Medicine Teen Clinic down the street in the underserved community where I was teaching, that would have been transformational.”
The Teen Health Clinic is completely free for all patients aged 13 to 24 with no insurance required. The clinic offers services such as immunizations, sick visits, physicals, contraception, and mental health counseling. It also includes an on-site pharmacy, also at no cost. call
“Having services like the Baylor Teen Health Clinic, in a community that sacrifices so much and sometimes gets the short end of the stick, it’s something to be very thankful for,” said Leslie Reyes, a student who has previously used one of Baylor’s nine teen health clinics.
The Teen Health Clinic is a full-service clinic that is bringing Baylor’s world-class medical care directly to residents who need it most.
“Some of the most underserved citizens are teens,” said Dr. Paul Klotman, President & CEO for the Baylor College of Medicine. “They are really often forgotten. There are programs for children. There are certainly programs for adults. But teens, those middle school kids, they're often forgotten and left out, and they are some of the most important people.”
In Sharpstown, where the Bayland Community Center is located, over half of residents are considered low-income, and one in three residents living within two miles of Bayland are uninsured, according to Census data.
“We know the population here lacks medical services that are convenient and that are free,” said Anne Van Horn, Community Outreach Director for the Teen Health Clinic. “It’s a service we want to provide for Precinct 4, and we know this area needs and deserves the services.”
One of the most in demand services the clinic provides is mental health counseling. Teen mental health is Counseling can be difficult to access, especially for teens.
The clinic matches patients to licensed clinical and master social workers based on the patient’s need. All counselors specialize in adolescent counseling and provide different therapeutic approaches based on what works best for the patient.
“The teen and young adult years are very difficult at best,” said Anne Van Horn, Community Outreach Director for the Teen Health Clinic. “So, to have a person that’s not related to you, not a friend, who you can talk to and can give you guided information about...mental healthcare, it’s just been amazing.”
As the Baylor Teen Health Clinic joins Bayland, so does Baylor’s Ascend program, a six-month career preparation program for young adults aged 18 to 24 who want to work in healthcare. This program is designed to help young adults who may not typically be able to attend college due to costs get certified to work in high-demand careers.
The program covers all costs – tuition, books, and other fees – for a student to attend community college, and most students participating in the program were first Teen Health Clinic patients. The only prerequisites to joining the program are age and attending workshops prior to beginning classes. The program has helped dozens of young adults get jobs in the healthcare field.
The Ascend program and the Teen Health Clinic are both open for enrollment and appointments. Visit the Bayland Community Center in person or search programming online to learn more about all of the health services it now offers, such as social resource navigators, a mobile dental unit for adults, and food distributions.