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Show Teens Tackle Birth Defects Problem With the Emphasis on Prevention Zest, enthusiasm, competencethese compe-tencethese are the words 1 that best describe the young members of the March of Dimes Teen Action Program. Pro-gram. Led by Kathy Carver, who stars in "Family Affair" on CBS television, the TAPs are junior volunteers. They were organized in 1954, and today 1hey are an integral part of The National Foundation-March Foundation-March of Dimes' task: The fight to prevent birth defects. Who are these teen-agers? And what, exactly, are they doing? Let's take Alan Rosenthal Rosen-thal of Miami, Fla., as an example. ex-ample. Alan, 17, first became involved in-volved in the TAP program . v:-u ..1 1 fK"p -war,, f. t PCJ VtM iiiimaiitiftmin flit-rlVifM-ilriir -'rlilTi'lfrilMi' l-rrifl rriYviiif,-i--iarili LUNCH TIME is fun time for Nutacha Figueroa (center) and her fellow patients at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Birth Defects Center, because Teen Action Program volunteers like Vivian Soeder and Carlos Perez visit the children and help feed them. This is just one of many projects sponsored by TAPs in their nationwide effort to fight birth defects. wnen ne was a juen anuui junior. Here's how it happened, according ac-cording to Alan: "Maria Landry, Lan-dry, the Dade County TAP Chairman, approached me at school one day and said, 'Alan, I've got a job for you.' The next thing I knew, I was on a plane headed for Salt Lake City and a National Youth Conference on Birth Defects." That's where it all began for Alan. Inspired by the conference, con-ference, he returned to Miami determined to do something about the great destroyer which attacks some 250,000 American babies every year. He became chairman of Project Proj-ect Concern Youth Council, a group of teen-age representatives repre-sentatives from each of Dade County's high schools, who serve as liaison betwetn the Dade County March of Dimes Chapter and their various student stu-dent bodies. A Nationwide Movement Under Alan's leadership, Trojcct Concern organized the teen-agers of Dade County in fund raising and community service projects for the March of Dimes. They raised money for the Birth Defects Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital Ihrough a bread sale and a fashion show. They helped feed the children at the Birth Defects De-fects Center. They painted a Birth Defects Center cottage at the hospital and the entire March of Dimes Headquarters. And most important, these teenagers continually ir!'' ; ; each other and involve r young people in March of Dimes public health education efforts. These activities arc typical of what TAPs are doing throughout the country. In Kern County, Calif., they are working in a March of Dimes prenatal care program for Spanish-speaking migrant workers. In Rochester, N.Y., TAPs make puppets for handicapped handi-capped children at the March of Dimes Birth Defects Center there. At a recent teen fair in Cleveland, Ohio, the TAP booth won first prize for its "Go MOD" theme. TAPs in Marin County, Calif., are working as volunteers at a Genetics Evaluation Center. Everywhere, they have proven prov-en their worth as workers and communicators. The Chairman of the Dade County Chapter of The National Foundation-March Foundation-March of Dimes, speaking of Alan Rosenthal's TAP group, says, "Every time we needed ideas, or manpower, or help of any kind, we first asked, how can we use the kids? And the kids were always there." TAPS realize they have a special stake in prevention of birth defects after all, they are the parents of tomorrow. Their children are the ones who will benefit most from ir methods that prevent some th defects and control the consequences of many others. These include recent development develop-ment of new vaccines which protect against two major causes of birth defects. One is the rubella vaccine for German Ger-man measles; the other is used to prevent RII incompatibility disease. Teens Are Concerned And these concerned teenagers teen-agers don't give up their TAP activities when they graduate from high school. They have gone on to form a new program pro-gram on college campuses throughout the country. Now members of CAP (College Action Ac-tion Program) are continuing their March of Dimes community commu-nity service and public health education activities during their college years. Alan, too, is busier than ever, as a premedical student at Cornell University in Ithaca, Itha-ca, N.Y. "I hope someday to combine my science background with my concern for society and working with people," says Alan. "But the important thing is to get involved and stay involved. in-volved. That's why I'll always be part of the March of Dimes they are the people who get things done, first in the fight against polio and now in the great battle to prevent birth defects." |