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• Welfare's Next Success
• Senator Snowe Shapes the Future For Maine And the Nation's Children And Families
• School-Based Health Centers: A Long Road to Travel 
• Changes are Needed for Kids
• Federal Budget Votes in Congress and Their Impact on Maine
• School-Based Health Centers work for Kids, Families and Communities
• School-Based Health Services-A Smart Idea

Editorials, Letters to the Editor & Articles

School-Based Health Services-A Smart Idea

How safe is your child at school? Is your son or daughter learning something of value? How well is she or he doing academically? For most parents these questions raise issues of eliminating school violence and raising educational standards. An equally important question is How well is your child?' National statistics suggest that adolescents are the only US population experiencing a rise in death and illness rates, and that children and youth aged 10-19 have the lowest use of health care services for any age group. This is precisely at the time when preventive health care has its greatest long-term impact. Maine's own Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care feels that community-based efforts with a special focus on children' is the most practical and cost effective avenue for improving the health status of Maine's citizens and that more attention be given to children in schools, where the infrastructure already exists and the returns on investment the greatest'. The Commission supports School-Based Health centers as important to improving the health of Maine's youth.

Why School-Based Health centers? Over eighteen thousand Maine children lack health insurance and thousands others have no coverage for critical preventive care. Even with insurance, transportation and availability health professionals are major problems. School-Based Health centers provide care where students are when care is needed. Services are decided by local communities and frequently include immediate treatment of injuries or illness, annual physicals, follow up for chronic conditions like asthma, screening, referrals or counseling. Often sponsored by a local hospital or health center, they supplement not replace, existing health care providers. School-Based Health services assure that youth receive regular medical care. This reduces barriers to learning, helps keep children in school, and lessens the need for frequent use of emergency room care.

There are twenty School-Based Health centers in Maine and over 1300 nationally. They build on a long tradition of school and public health nursing, well child clinics, and local health centers. The Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission is to be commended for recognizing that quality education depends on healthy students, and that Maine has a responsibility to assure that all of its people have ready access to basic health care. Maine's Legislature will be asked to consider a number of proposals that support a communities commitment to School-Based Health services and expanding child health coverage. They deserve our thoughtful consideration.

(Elinor Goldberg is Executive Director of the Maine Children's Alliance, a statewide non profit organization dedicated to improving the well being of Maine's children, youth, and families)

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