• Overview: Facts about School-Based Health Services
• Improving Access to Health Care
• School-Based Health Services and Maine's Legislators
• The MCA's School-Based Health Initiative
• Problem Behavior Prevention and School-Based Health Centers: Programs and Prospects
• American Academy of Pediatrics Report on School- Based Health Centers
• Maine School-Based Health Center Evaluation Project (I of 2)
• Maine School-Based Health Center Evaluation (2 of 2)Project
• Child Health
• Starting a School-Based Health Center
• School-Based Health - Fast Facts
• School-Based Health Centers In Maine
• Stories: Case in Point
• Resources
• National Assembly on School-Based Health Care

School-Based Health

Overview: Facts about School-Based Health Services

School-Based Health Services benefit children, their families, schools, and businesses.

School-Based Health Services Support Children and Families by:

• Providing health care in the most accessible location for children and youth, thereby solving transportation and other problems that inhibit access to health care;
  
  
• Ensuring that their children have access to health care throughout the course of the day;
  
  
• Increasing access to physical and dental health services (uninsured students with access to a school-based health center have an easier time obtaining physical and dental health services compared to uninsured students with no access to a school-based health center);
  
  
• Increasing the likelihood that elementary students will receive physicals and dental exams (elementary students with access to a school-based health center were more likely to have had a physician's visit and a dental examination during the school year than students without access to a center, regardless of insurance status); and
  
  
• Strengthening the connection between the school and the family, and providing referrals to families for a variety of health-related services.
  

School-Based Health Services Support Education by:

• Keeping students in school (research shows that students who use school-based health centers experience less absenteeism than their peers who do not use the centers);
  
  
• Providing counseling to students experiencing personal or emotional difficulties;
  
  
• Identifying students at risk for both physical illness and emotional or behavioral trouble, and intervening early to help children learn to be safe and healthy; and
  
  
• Responding in times of school or community crisis.
  

School-Based Health Services Support Businesses by:

• Reducing parental work absences related to children's health care needs;
  
  
• Keeping children out of emergency rooms; and
  
  
• Detecting illness and risk early and reducing the need for expensive treatment later.
  

Facts About Adolescents:

• They are less likely to have health insurance than any other age group.
  
  
• They have the lowest utilization of health care services.
  
  
• The leading causes of death for adolescents have changed from natural causes (illnesses and birth defects) to unintentional and intentional injuries.
  
  
• Risky behaviors are the leading threat to the health of adolescents.
  

School-Based Health Services are uniquely positioned to improve health care for adolescents.

How Can School-Based Health Services Help?

We know that during puberty, physical and mental health issues are particularly interrelated and that youth most often reveal emotional struggles and problems to health care providers during the course of an acute care visit. We also know that adolescents with access to school-based health services are more likely to make a visit to a social worker, counselor, or mental health provider. And that more than children of any other age, teens need to receive care where they feel safe to talk about new and difficult health issues. These realities offer strong support for offering both physical and mental health services in the same location.


What Types of Services are Provided by Maine's School-Based Health Centers?

Maine's School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) can offer a variety of medical and mental health services. The Advisory Board of each SBHC, which is made up of local community members that includes parents and students, decides which services will be offered. The following are some of the services that may be offered at a SBHC¹:

Medical services:

• Diagnosis and treatment of minor injuries and acute illness
  
• Referrals to community health providers, including eye care and dental providers
  
• Immunizations
  
• Chronic illness management
  
• Medication prescriptions
  
• Laboratory testing (such as strep throat cultures)
  
• Physical examinations (coordinated with primary care providers)
  
• Family planning services
  
• Diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases
  

Counseling, mental health, and substance abuse services:

• Individual and group counseling
  
• Referrals to community health providers
  
• Preventive health guidance/education
  
• Nutritional education and counseling
  
• Support groups for eating disorders, chronic diseases, smoking cessation, grieving, substance abuse
  
• Substance abuse assessment programs
  
• Weight-reduction programs
  
• Sexuality counseling
  
• Pregnancy counseling
  
• Job counseling
  
• Family counseling
  

Why is Now the Time for School-Based Health Services?

We know that there are insufficient resources to provide access to health care for all of our children, including those who are insured. Maine needs to find new ways to provide health care for children and youth. While it is unlikely that we will resolve the entirety of the health care crisis today, we can offer major improvements in the provision of health care to children and youth via school-based health services.


¹ Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health, Teen and Young Adult Program, August 2004.

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