Forging Collaboration to Promote Student Health: Community Partnering in a Multi-Ethnic School Based Health Clinic

Improving health outcomes in children is inextricably linked to their educational success and the maximization of their intellectual potential. Good access to health services decreases absenteeism and improves educational outcomes. School Based Health Clinics (SBHCs) meet many of the AAP criteria for a medical home and have the potential to ensure all students receive medical attention when needed regardless of insurance status, ability to pay, language, socioeconomic and transportation barriers, and immigrant, undocumented or refugee status. Cost-effectiveness at a grass roots community level can be provided by SBHCs as they offer medication administration, coordination of services for special needs children, emergency medical management, triage services and assistance with chronic disease management such as asthma and diabetes. We report a collaborative hybrid model of student health care between an elementary School-Based Health Center (SBHC) and six other local clinics/organizations. This unique partnership provides funding and administration for a school nurse, a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, a Pediatrician, and two bi-lingual medical assistants, thus providing highly competent care to low-income, undocumented and refugee children and families. The school nurse and the nurse practitioner are considered on-site school staff and communicate daily and directly with the children, parents, pediatrician, teachers and school administration. Communication is continuous, not fragmented. We relate collaborative partnerships and discuss future sustainability efforts. Case examples illustrate where serious illness and potentially fatal diseases and complications were prevented and life-saving surgeries were performed that might not otherwise have occurred if not for the benefits of this exceptional partnership. We recommend the State of California fulfill its promise to begin providing direct grant funding to SHBCs for information technology infrastructure and technical assistance to improve administration and operations along with capital costs and facilities acquisition for new SHBCs.