DENMARK, S.C. - The elimination of a state pregnancy prevention program by the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will likely force the closure of the highly touted Denmark-Olar Teen Life Center by Dec. 31 unless additional operating funds can be identified by Bamberg School District 2 officials.

The Center is a nationally recognized school-based program that was established in 1982 as a collaborative effort between the University of South Carolina School of Public Health and the residents of Bamberg County. The comprehensive, abstinence-based program, which provides age-appropriate sexuality education to youth ages 8-19, includes a community awareness campaign, a quarterly newsletter, monthly parent and child education sessions and peer educator training.

Bamberg District 2 Superintendent Dr. Secaida Howell recently said the Teen Life Center would be closed at the end of the year due to the elimination of funding for the Medicaid Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Service unless other funding can be found.

"The Teen Life Center has made so many strides over the past 30 years in decreasing teen pregnancies in our area," Howell said. "In (July) 2006, the center was featured in the Wall Street Journal due to its efforts. Losing that program will have a major impact on our community and could have drastic effects on the overall educational efforts of our school district. The center's efforts lead to good character, which is a key factor in our curriculum."

"I don't see anything in the way of continued funding for the Teen Life Center at this time, but we are searching hard," Howell added. "The center has contributed positively to the middle and high school children with whom they work."

Teen Life Center Director Coretta Jamison says elimination of the state pregnancy prevention program is affecting every county in the state.

"This action has been due strictly to state budget cuts," she said. "We generate a fee through Medicaid for the service we provide the students who are a part of the program. We are looking into other grants at this point, but we will just have to see where it goes. The school board would have to make the ultimate decision to sustain the center or allow it to close based on whether or not money is available. There is still a possibility that the center could remain in existence. But additional funding must be found."

"The center has had a positive impact, and it would be a disservice to the students we serve not to be able to provide the health and education services they need," Jamison said. "Nationally, pregnancy rates were on the rise during the last 15 years, and now we have seen a slight decrease. However, we can't afford to be complacent; we must continue our efforts in order to build on that success."

The most recent data available shows a decrease in the adolescent pregnancy rates statewide and in Bamberg County. Data collected over a 23-year period reflects that in 1982, when the program began, the county's adolescent pregnancy rates were some of the highest in the state at 51.9 per 1,000. Those rates had, however, dipped as low as 21.8 per 1,000 in 2005, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Earlier this year, the Teen Life Center was awarded a more than $200,000 grant from the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services to expand school- and community-based services for non-Medicaid and non-qualifying Medicaid eligible adolescents enrolled in Bamberg School District 2. Former Center director Michelle Nimmons was also honored as the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy's first recipient of the Murray L. Vincent Outstanding Prevention Professional Award at the group's 2008 Summer Institute.

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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