John,
Thank you for writing about SB 564. School health centers are a practical way to get health care to kids and families. They are also very popular in all of the 153 schools where they are currently located in California and in the many other states where they are part of a statewide public health strategy to make sure that everyone gets health care.
A few points of clarification:
School health centers do not seek to replace primary care providers in the community; they extend the reach of those providers by putting health care in a location that is convenient and accessible. For many children whose parents lack convenient transportation or cannot take time off work, school health centers make the difference between receiving care or not. From both a public health and economic standpoint, it is in the interest of our entire society that ALL kids receive timely preventive medical care.
School health centers are not generally run by school districts. As you point out, many school districts have neither the expertise, capacity or resources to run health centers. Often community clinics and counties run school health centers. When they want to expand their services to reach more people, they realize that locating on a school campus is a win-win for them, their patients, and the school.
School health centers bear no resemblance to retail clinics. School health centers establish relationships with children and families, work with teachers to help them handle issues that arise in the classroom, offer prevention programs, and provide health education to the entire school population.
You are quite right that California’s schools are struggling on many counts. School health centers are part of the solution to improving student success. Teachers are the first to acknowledge that even with the best curriculum and best teaching, children will not learn if they are not healthy. School health centers do not take resources from schools, they BRING resources TO schools and help more kids get health care, which is why SB 564 was supported by all the major education and health care organizations in California.
Serena Clayton
Executive Director
California School Health Centers Association
Thank you for writing about SB 564. School health centers are a practical way to get health care to kids and families. They are also very popular in all of the 153 schools where they are currently located in California and in the many other states where they are part of a statewide public health strategy to make sure that everyone gets health care.
A few points of clarification:
School health centers do not seek to replace primary care providers in the community; they extend the reach of those providers by putting health care in a location that is convenient and accessible. For many children whose parents lack convenient transportation or cannot take time off work, school health centers make the difference between receiving care or not. From both a public health and economic standpoint, it is in the interest of our entire society that ALL kids receive timely preventive medical care.
School health centers are not generally run by school districts. As you point out, many school districts have neither the expertise, capacity or resources to run health centers. Often community clinics and counties run school health centers. When they want to expand their services to reach more people, they realize that locating on a school campus is a win-win for them, their patients, and the school.
School health centers bear no resemblance to retail clinics. School health centers establish relationships with children and families, work with teachers to help them handle issues that arise in the classroom, offer prevention programs, and provide health education to the entire school population.
You are quite right that California’s schools are struggling on many counts. School health centers are part of the solution to improving student success. Teachers are the first to acknowledge that even with the best curriculum and best teaching, children will not learn if they are not healthy. School health centers do not take resources from schools, they BRING resources TO schools and help more kids get health care, which is why SB 564 was supported by all the major education and health care organizations in California.
Serena Clayton
Executive Director
California School Health Centers Association
- posted by Serena Clayton
- October 10, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
- Permalink
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I'm pleased that you chose to shed some light on school-based health centers. In the first point you make, you say that if SBHCs are effective, then local governments should pay for them. I want to assure you that they ARE effective. The sad fact is that many of our nation's youth do not have access to high quality health care.
SBHCs bring health care to students where they spend the majority of their time - resulting in students staying in school, in class, ready to learn. In many cases, local governments DO share some of the financial burden. But this is a community intervention as we are all invested in the future and making sure our children and adolescents grow up healthy and successful.
I encourage you to visit www.nasbhc.org and learn more about SBHCs. I think that once you understand the model, you will realize the importance of this legislation.
Divya Mohan
National Assembly on School-Based Health Care