Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - March 11, 2004
Sabrina Crawford, scrawford@examiner.com
A junior at Ida B. Wells High School and member of the 30-member teen team that helped plan the fourth annual Young Women's Health Conference, Garcia has seen her life come full circle.
At 7, when she was still too young to understand the illness, her mother died from AIDS. "I'm always concerned about my own health and the health of girls surrounding me," Garcia said. "There's a lot of girls that go through the same things day after day -- problems with relationships or depression. We all need healthy minds as well as healthy bodies."
And that, the organizers say, is just what Wednesday's conference is all about -- to listen, talk and learn about health.
"We recognize the creativity, curiosity, resilience and courage of these young women," said Dr. Nancy Milliken, director of the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health and co-founder of the annual conference. "We're here to support them in learning what they want to learn and to give them honest, unbiased information and resources."
In a hall teaming with estrogen, energy and what speaker Mayor Gavin Newsom dubbed the unstoppable spirit of "Eve-o-lution," teens from across San Francisco and San Mateo counties dove head-on into a dialogue about issues that affect their health and their lives.
Behind closed doors with signs like "Teen Parent Panel," and "Know Justice," health experts and community leaders led teen-only workshops on topics including dating violence, depression, eating disorders, teen pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDS. "This is truly their conference," said state Sen. Jackie Speier, co-founder of the conference.
"The simplest goal is that we want these girls to recognize they can achieve anything. No matter what they've come from -- what lifestyle or decisions they've made, they can make it. They can more than make it -- they can do it all."
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