Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 16, 1995 TAG: 9510160003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Kathy LaMotte keeps a yellow Post-it note with these words above her desk:
``To lead the community-wide coalition activities and coordinate individual program efforts.''
As the new coordinator of Roanoke's Teen Pregnancy Prevention Project, she knows staying focused will be tough.
She knows that everyone and their brother will be expecting big things from her - and not all of those expectations will be the same.
``The burdens to getting everybody to work together are tremendous - both practically and philosophically,'' LaMotte says. ``I'm going to have to get over being a perfectionist.''
She plans to frame her job description ``as soon as I figure it out,'' the 37-year-old says, laughing. ``I have a feeling that all it will end up saying is: `My job is the big picture.' ''
Someone to draw the big picture has been sorely missing in Roanoke, which continues to have one of the highest teen-pregnancy rates in Virginia. According to the 1993 statistics, 152.7 pregnancies were reported for every 1,000 15- to 19-year-old females - that's roughly equal to one pregnancy for every seven young women.
In other words, that's job security for Kathy LaMotte.
``The problem before was, we were all so busy delivering the services, we didn't have any energy left to coordinate,'' says Cheri Hartman, director of the city's Teen Outreach Program (TOP) and a member of the interviewing committee that chose LaMotte from 10 applicants.
``She will allow all the various agencies concerned to be pulled together, to be more effective and efficient in seeking funding to expand programs that are already working and to identify gaps in services,'' Hartman says.
The new position is funded by a teen-pregnancy prevention grant from the Virginia Department of Health, the city of Roanoke and the Better Beginnings Coalition. LaMotte is housed in the Community Hospital Medical Building, where she works under the umbrella of the Regional Perinatal Coordinating Council.
``As a member of the teen-pregnancy prevention community, I'm thrilled thatsomeone finally has this job,'' says LaMotte, a longtime member of the volunteer Better Beginnings Coalition and the former director of the teen crisis hotline at TRUST.
``It's great to have one person whose job is just teen-pregnancy prevention,'' says Roanoke health department director Molly Rutledge.
LaMotte's duties will entail whatever it takes to get that big picture in focus. There's sure to be some fund-raising, public education and grant-writing involved.
She'll also work with both the Better Beginnings Coalition and the city manager's citizen task force to create and implement a communitywide prevention plan. The task force, now in its 18th month, will draft its recommendations by the end of the year. Town meetings to garner citizen input are also being planned, probably for early November.
LaMotte is also sure to be at center stage in the perennial battle between those who believe abstinence should be the only message and those who preach both abstinence and sex education. She believes she can find some common ground.
``I'm hoping that, even if a group can't buy into the whole thing, they'll at least agree to help with their part,'' she says. ``Part of the difficulty is that so many of us think we know the answer. But we need to find a way to truly compare the effectiveness of our programs.''
Inventing a tool to objectively measure the success of prevention programs already in place is her No. 1 priority, she adds. ``If abstinence-only programs work, I'm all for it. I want to do whatever works to get our rate down and have a positive impact on people's lives.''
LaMotte attributes her socially conscious leanings to her parents. Her father, John LaMotte, was a one-time missionary and pastor of Roanoke's First Presbyterian Church. Her mother, Olivia, was a founding member of Roanoke's Habitat for Humanity. LaMotte's interest in teen-agers was piqued through her experience at TRUST and by her position as producer-host of WBRA's teen talk show, "Some Assembly Required," as well by raising her own teen-age son.
Based on her own experience with teen issues, ``dealing with reality includes talking about abstinence and prevention. We have such a taboo about talking to kids about sexuality. Meanwhile, the media's sending these strong messages and we're not counteracting them.''
Intensive, long-term prevention strategies work best in giving teens what LaMotte considers to be the best contraception of all: a hopeful sense of the future.
She says she's encouraged by the recent expansion of the city's For Males Only program, which targets teen-age males, and the Roanoke Adolescent Health Partnership's new health clinic between William Fleming High and Ruffner Middle schools. The TOP program, which targets teen pregnancy as well as crime and truancy through community service and self-esteem building, is also being expanded this year to William Fleming High School.
``Kids who have that sense of future, for the most part, don't have babies,'' LaMotte says. ``They're motivated not to want to give up that future by having a baby.''
Teen-agers who have at least three adults with whom they can discuss sexual issues also have a much lower incidence of teen pregnancy, she adds, citing a recent study.
``I think there's room for all points of view'' in battling teen pregnancy. ``We all have different roles with our teens. ... We've just got to get past our differences and start tackling this thing.''
She knows her job will be chaotic and overwhelming.
``But I love to be challenged. I love intensively trying to figure things out. We may not succeed entirely, but if we can make an improvement and I can be a part of it, nothing would be more satisfying.''
by CNB