HONESDALE, PA — Opioids, bullying, suicide, healthy relationships, yoga, career and personal readiness—all these topics were addressed head-on in this year’s Together for Health School Program for seventh- and ninth-graders graders in three area school districts. Together for Health, initiated more than a decade ago by Wayne Memorial Hospital’s Community Relations Department, is a joint effort with schools and local social service agencies to help students make healthy lifestyle choices.

A highlight of the program was a drama by The Wallenpaupack Players, a young theatre group from Wallenpaupack Area High school, about a student who chooses to kill herself after a series of events with family, school officials and peers. Seventh-graders in Wayne Highlands, Western Wayne and Wallenpaupack Area middle schools were asked “If you were the victim, what would you do differently?” 

“The students had answers that the players acted out,” said Donna Decker, RN, manager of WMH Community Health and co-organizer of the Together for Health School Program, “such as ‘go back and sit your mother down to listen to you’ and the results were amazing.”

The three-part program also included interactive yoga, a session on drugs and alcohol, readiness planning, healthy relationships and volunteering.