The money will help bolster the unique role that school-based health-care providers play in children’s lives, say experts. “You get to see things that you just can’t see in a private doctor’s office when a parent brings them in,” says Veda Johnson. A pediatrician and longtime advocate for school-based health centers, Johnson directs a program at Atlanta’s Emory University that aims to expand such centers in Georgia.
Next summer, the next round of funds are expected to be distributed, says Linda Juszczak, executive director of the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, a Washington-based advocacy group. However, given ongoing political and budgetary challenges, the remaining funds could be at risk, she says. “We’ll do everything in our power to ensure that it remains safe.”
Fragmented care
School-based health centers go beyond the services of a school nurse. They are clinics that provide primary care to students, and often mental health and dental care as well. Clinics often also provide reproductive health services to middle and high school students; some offer birth-control services. Typically located in medically under-served urban areas, they’re relatively rare: Only about 1,900 of the roughly 133,000 schools across the country have them. As of 2009, the District had 4, Maryland 71 and Virginia 19. Funding is often cobbled together from a variety of sources, including community-based health centers, health-care systems, foundation grants, and state and local funds.
Generally, school-based health centers supplement the care that children receive from their regular pediatrician, if they have one. Over the years some pediatricians have expressed concern that the clinics could disrupt their relationships with families and lead to fragmented care, says Robert Murray, who recently served as chair of the Council on School Health for the American Academy of Pediatrics. But many kids who use school-based health centers are not otherwise connected to a health-care provider, he says.
For some kids, in fact, the practitioner at the school clinic is their primary health-care provider, serving them even after they move on to another school.
That’s the way it is at the four elementary school clinics operated by HEALS (Health Establishments at Local Schools) in Huntsville, Ala. Starting with a well-child visit at the beginning of the school year, clinic staff keep regular tabs on the kids, providing vaccinations and treatment for everything from allergies to strep throat. Even after they leave elementary school, the kids come back for care, usually until they reach age 19. “We are the medical home for our children,” says Connie Carnes, executive director for HEALS, which received $313,107 in grants that it will use to build two new health centers, an electronic medical records system and other projects.
Loading...
Comments