The When, was 1997. The Where, was Wilmington, North Carolina. The Who, was underserved teens. The WHAT, was to become the Wilmington Health Access for Teens. North Carolina was topping the nation’s teenage pregnancy rates. Teens in our community had the dubious distinction of being the state’s leaders in out of home placements, juvenile arrest rates, and victims of child abuse. The state’s youth were smoking, drinking and using drugs at a significantly higher rate than their national peers. Eastern North Carolina’s youth were in crisis.

A group of concerned citizens came together to take ownership of their young. Realizing that the community’s future was at stake, local community leaders took their stakeholder responsibilities seriously and set in place the foundation that was to become WHAT Nineteen health and human service organizations came together, under the stewardship of Connie Parker and with a mission of “providing convenient, affordable health care just for teenagers” a small group of committed health care providers came together to address the needs of the community’s floundering youth.

A local teen wellness center was created to provide general health care and mental health counseling. Drawing heavily on the generosity of the community and with a generous grant from The Duke Endowment, Wilmington Health Access for Teens was born. The need was great as was the support to meet it.

In 1999 WHAT opened up its first school based health center serving the needs of the student body at Lakeside High School. In a coordinated effort, health care providers addressed the physical and psychosocial needs of the students. With a tremendous amount of administrative and parental support, WHAT was able to have a tremendous impact not only on student health but also on academic and social parameters. 2004 saw the opening of the second school-based health center at New Hanover High School.