February 7, 2006: Santa Rosa, CA, Press Democrat Feature Story- Teen Health Haven (Phoenix Free Health Clinic)

TEEN HEALTH HAVEN: THURSDAY AFTERNOONS, THE PHOENIX THEATRE TURNS FROM MUSIC HALL HANGOUT TO FREE CLINIC AND VITAL INFORMATION RESOURCE FOR YOUTH
Published on February 7, 2006

© 2006- The Press Democrat

BYLINE:    RAYNE WOLFE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT PAGE: D1

One hundred years ago, when Petaluma's Phoenix Theatre was the Hill Opera House, ladies ascending the grand double staircase carried beaded handbags in one hand and used the other hand to hold up the hem of their rustling silk skirts.
On a recent rainy Thursday, 19-year-old Desiree Dougherty ascended the same staircase clad in a tie-dyed T-shirt and comfy jeans. In her hands she clutched a plain paper bag, which discreetly hid its contents.

It's a ritual that plays out for two hours every Thursday afternoon, when the Phoenix changes from theater to health clinic to reach teens in need of screenings or treatment.
Dougherty was among the steady stream of teenagers making the trek from the lobby to the ladies or mens rooms on the mezzanine to provide urine samples as part of her screening.
``I've been coming here since the clinic opened. I was probably one of the very first patients,'' said Dougherty, who works part time while attending Santa Rosa Junior College. ``I come because it's local and it's free,'' she said.
Teens enter the historic opera house-turned-theater with great uncertainty, unaware that opera legend Enrico Caruso, magician Harry Houdini and more recently, punk rock band legend Green Day performed here.
Teens in tight, low slung jeans cluster in the narrow doorway, jockeying to sign in. Entertainment is the last thing on the minds of those who have arrived to the clinic, their timid movements telegraphing their inexperience in dealing with grown up issues like sexual activity.
They are greeted at the front office by Melissa Long, 18, and Norah Rapaport, 17, who assists her mother, nurse practitioner Cheryl Negrin-Rapaport. Negrin-Rapaport has worked the clinic since co-founding it nearly three years ago with Dr. Lydia Schindler, who has since returned to private practice.
Negrin-Rapaport now handles all the examinations in a small room just past the once lovely Art Deco lobby, which is now slathered with spray-can murals. The lobby serves mainly as a receptacle for teenagers and broken down furniture. The ambiance mirrors the laid-back urban clinics that Negrin-Rapaport used to visit as a teenager in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district.
Under dim lights, huddled on leather couches, perched atop a pool table or along ledges and stairs, nervous teens clutch clipboards and agonize over the meaning of medical history questionnaires.
Hushed voices fly back and forth.
``Does that mean, do I have AIDS or do I want to be tested?''
``Am I sexually active? Do they want to know how active?''
``How many partners should I put?''
The questions come in whispers between girlfriends and boyfriends, while all around the lobby other teenagers who are just hanging out talk, flirt, joke, play the two out-of-tune pianos or skateboard up and down the aisles.
Teens show respect by giving each other plenty of space, but it's still difficult for some.
``Going to the Phoenix on Thursday can be a little embarrassing. I mean, there are boys there and they know that when you take a bag upstairs you are doing a test,'' said 18-year-old Julia Crane of Petaluma. ``But in a way, I think a regular doctor's office can make you more nervous. Doctor's offices are so quiet,'' she said.
Crane had been to the Phoenix clinic with friends before. Part of a trio that includes sisters Desiree Dougherty and Crane's best friend, Leanne Dougherty, 18, she visited recently to talk to Negrin-Rapaport about birth control.
``I have a boyfriend and it seemed like I should be doing it, starting pills. She (Negrin-Rapaport) was very nice and helpful. She explained things very thoroughly,'' Crane said.
The clinic opened in 2003 with help from Sutter Hospital, the Petaluma Health Center, and Women's Health Specialists in Santa Rosa. They were also encouraged by the de facto Papa Bear of the Phoenix, Tom Gaffey.
``We were lucky. Lydia (Schindler) got Sutter to donate equipment and the Petaluma Health Center gave us $2,000. .<th>.<th>. When Tom said, I can make it work for you guys, we were set,'' said Negrin-Rapaport.
Gaffey manages the Phoenix on behalf of four Telecom millionaires who purchased the building and created the nonprofit Phoenix Foundation to keep its doors open. It is home to a slate of teen-related programs, including tutoring, arts training, and the Thursday free clinic.
There are other clinics in Sonoma County, but the Phoenix plays a special role, reaching teens where they hang out anyway.
``People look at the Phoenix and think it's just a bunch of lost kids. .
th>.<th>. Kids making bad decisions. I was pretty wild and came from a broken home. I've walked the same paths,'' said Negrin-Rapaport.
``I know that when kids find a place where adults care for them, accept them, they are likely to make wiser decisions. They see how to love themselves because we love them. That's how I was saved,'' she said.
Negrin-Rapaport spent 17 years as a labor and delivery nurse at Petaluma Valley Hospital and currently works four days a week at the Elsie Allen High School teen clinic. She sees about 15 to 20 young patients a week at the Phoenix, under the auspices of Women's Health Specialists in Santa Rosa.
Clinic services are free and include providing birth control, pregnancy tests, tests and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, ``morning after'' pills, and treatment for urinary tract infections for male and female teen patients.
Serious cases are referred to appropriate physicians.
Negrin-Rapaport's daughter, Jaime, now 20, was the first front office worker and has guided the teens who followed her. The experience inspired her to pursue a career in medicine.
``I remember at first, girls were so embarrassed by the paper bags that I had to carry it for them, under my shirt. We'd go up together and come back down together. Nobody's embarrassed anymore,'' said Jaime Rapaport.
Long and Norah Rapaport now carry on the work Jaime started, guiding the teens who come through the door.
Long, who once thought of becoming an accountant, now thinks only of the steps necessary to become a labor and delivery nurse or working in some aspect of health care. She said she has empathy for patients, many of whom are wrestling with fears of unwanted pregnancies.
``Well, 99 percent of the tests are negative so that news is met with relief. Sometimes I hand them the bag and by the time they walk upstairs, their period arrives and they come back down, smiling,'' she said.
Norah Rapaport said she has been hanging out at the Phoenix since she was 12 or 13. Now she considers it her second home.
With plans to become a nurse, she is busy memorizing all the procedures for clinic work.
``I don't want to be a doctor, to be on call all the time. I think it's really cool that my mother showed all my sisters and me how great it is to be a nurse,'' she said.
You can reach Staff Writer Rayne Wolfe at 521-5240 or rwolfe@pressdemocrat.com.

Photo: 4 by Crista Jeremiason / The Press Democrat


1: A variety of condoms are available to teens inside the teen clinic at the Phoenix Theatre.
2: Desiree Dougherty, 19, of Petaluma, makes her way into the women's restroom with a paper bag at the Phoenix Theatre to give a sample for her annual health screening with the teen health clinic's Cheryl Negrin-Rapaport.
3: Leanne Dougherty gets her annual health screening from Cheryl Negrin -Rapaport.
4: The Phoenix teen clinic's Melissa Long, 18, right, does paperwork while patients, from left to right, Desiree Dougherty, 19, Leanne Dougherty, 18, and Julia Crane, 18, wait to be seen for their annual appointment and to talk to Cheryl Negrin-Rapa-port about birth control.

Infobox:
WHERE TO GET HELP
There are a variety of teen clinics in Sonoma County. Here is a cross-section of clinic and health information sites:
DROP-IN TEEN CLINICS:
Phoenix Theatre Clinic, Petaluma -- Thursdays, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. 217-3383, 490-7298 or 484-9866
Chanate Clinic, Santa Rosa -- Thursdays, 4 to 7 p.m. 565-4820, ext. 5 for teen clinic
Riley Street, Santa Rosa -- Tuesdays, 2 to 5 p.m. 565-4820, ext. 5
Southwest Community Health Center, Santa Rosa -- Wednesdays, 2 to 5 p.m., Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 547-2222
Elsie Allen High Health Center, 528-5770 Monday-Friday.
CASA, Forestville -- Tuesdays, Thursdays 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. 887-0427
OTHER TEEN HEALTH SERVICES:
Rape Hotline/United Against Sexual Assault 545-7273
YWCA Domestic Violence Hotline 546-1234
Social Advocates for Youth - Emergency Shelter (800) 544-3299
Russian River Health Center 869-2849
Sonoma County Indian Health Project 521-4545
Planned Parenthood/Rohnert Park (800) 967-7526
Sonoma Valley Community Health Center/Sonoma 939-6070
HIV/AIDS Helpline 524-7373