 Beginning on Mother's Day, National Women's Health Week is celebrated each year to encourage women and girls to make their health a priority. We spoke to Public Health Director Tammy Riley on the importance of maintaining good health at any age. Well, it's Women's Health Week. You know, there's just so many topics. We could, you know, spend a lot of time talking about the importance of women's health. But I'd like to look at women's health in three stages. You know, you have your early pubescent girls, you have your adult women, and then you have your mature women. And they all have unique health issues that need to be addressed. Those early ages, you know, 10, 11, 12 years old, we really start trying to focus on, you know, good decisions, avoiding risky behavior, and also the importance of vaccines, including the HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccine has clearly shown overwhelming reduction in cervical and other types of cancers in both young women and men. The HPV vaccine is recommended for those 9 to 15 years of age and is shown to reduce cervical precancers caused by HPV by 40%. So in the young adult years, you know, women are typically sexually active and reproductive. Health is very important. And, you know, we encourage regular pap smears and mammograms, along with all the other normal, you know, healthy behaviors, eat well, get exercise, heart-lung health, and so forth. But we want those at the age of 40. We want women to have annual mammograms. And as soon as they're active, sexually active, we want those regular pap smears. Cancer. It's a very scary word. But an outstanding treatment facility was here at home. I was led to the Lawson Cancer Center. As a nurse practitioner at the Lawson Cancer Center, we are champions for our patients. I am so happy for Robert. The treatment worked. For the mature woman, you know, osteoporosis, bone health, staying active and mobile and in keeping your flexibility. But also it's still very important that the mature woman continues those pap smears and annual mammograms. While maintaining good health is a lifelong journey, the Pike County Health Department works to offer resources to aid and maintain good health. We have a full family planning clinic downstairs. We have a nurse practitioner who's here every Tuesday and Thursday. We offer STD testing, just the full gamut, pap smears and things of that nature. But what's really important for young girls to know is that at the age of 14 or older, they can utilize the resources, the resources that are available at the health department without any additional consent. They can come in on their own and seek any of our services. For more information, go to Pike County Health Department on Facebook. Reporting for Mountain Top News, I'm Brianna Robinson.