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Rockbridge County schools are looking forward to the arrival of school-based health centers in Rockbridge County High and Maury River Middle schools through the Rockbridge Area Health Center.
Suzanne Sheridan, CEO of RAHC, presented the plans to the School Board at its September meeting.
Though plans are still in the early stages, they will build on a relationship between RAHC and Rockbridge schools that has been in place since 2014.
Through a long-standing partnership with the Rockbridge Area Health Center, Rockbridge County Public Schools has been extremely fortunate to have schoolbased dental services in place for many of our schools for years,” Superintendent Phillip Thompson told The News-Gazette after the meeting.
What was presented to the Board was a plan to expand that outreach, bringing health clinics directly into the schools.
“The goal of the new partnership would be to expand and develop a comprehensive system of school health, dental, and preventive care services for students attending RCPS by utilizing the combined resources of RCPS and RAHC,” Thompson explained.
“What we’re proposing now is just one step further,” Sheridan told the Board. “School-based health centers are clinics physically located in the school, and we’ve identified spaces at Maury River and at Rockbridge County High School.”
When completed, these clinics will provide a range of services.
“The services that we provide are determined by the community, so we’ve been working with the staff, with the school nurses to identify what is most needed. We’re working in partnership through the schools, through the nurses, the guidance counselors, school resource officers, to provide health care services,” Sheridan said.
“Primary care includes health promotion, disease prevention, health maintenance, counseling, patient education, diagnosis, and treatment of acute and chronic illnesses,” Thompson explained.
Students will need parental consent for services.
The health centers will continue to listen to feedback from the community and from students as they roll out, including taking surveys of students and families who receive their services.
The mental health aspect of these clinics is an important one for Rockbridge.
“In 2019 we put out a survey to parents, to see what kind of services they would want,” Sheridan said. “Close to 50% said counseling for emotional issues. That was before Covid, so we know that it’s even more of an issue now.”
Mental health services will be some of the first in place, with RAHC counselors already working in Maury River Middle School.
Better mental and physical health services will help with problems of tardiness and absenteeism, Sheridan believes, following evidence of other school-based health centers.
“School-based health centers have around since the 1970s. They have been shown to decrease absenteeism and tardiness, improve school discipline and address behavior problems,” she told the Board.
The health centers will be open to teachers and school staff, as well as to students throughout county schools.
“This partnership aims to help students, faculty, and staff achieve optimal health status and maximize their school performance,” said Thompson. “We hope that this exciting venture will lead to healthier students and improved attendance.”
Sheridan emphasized that these health centers will work alongside primary care physicians when possible, but will also be able to serve children who may not have other access to health services.
“We can be a link to that child’s primary provider. If they already have a primary care provider we’re not looking to replace that, we want to support that role,” she said. “But we can also be a health care home for children and families that may not have that service.”
The new centers will not replace health services already in place in the schools, but the RAHC hopes to broaden their reach and resources.
“The basic principles of the school-based health centers are that we are responding to community need, we are supporting the schools, we are encouraging collaborative relationships, we’re focused on the student, we’re providing education, and we’re providing support to the students, and to the teachers, and the nurses, dietitians, or counselors that serve them,” Sheridan said.
“This does not replace school personnel. It augments school programs by bringing community resources to the schools.”
These resources will be available at no cost to students, though RAHC plans to bill insurance where available.
“We are grateful that RAHC will provide services to all students regardless of their ability to pay. The funding for this program will be paid for largely through grant awarded funds,” Thompson told The News-Gazette.
RAHC has applied for a federal grant to help fund the health centers, but plans to move ahead in the meantime.
Though Thompson told the Board that “we are at the finish line, not over it,” he hopes to see expanded services in the schools soon.
“We are hopeful that these services will begin at Rockbridge County High School and Maury River Middle School in the next several weeks,” he said.
