A school-based health center provides preventive and primary health care services to students on a school campus, encourages the use of more appropriate health-care services and saves money on hospitalizations and emergency room visits for children with asthma and other chronic illnesses.

While school-based health centers vary to meet the community’s needs, general characteristics of all school-based health centers include the following:

• School-based health centers are designed to serve all students with a focus on the uninsured and underserved.
• An advisory board of community representatives, parents, youth and family organizations participate in planning and oversight of the health center.
• The school-based health center works cooperatively with school nurses, coaches, counselors, classroom teachers and school principals and their staff to assure that the school-based health center is an integral part of the life of the school.  

The benefits of a school-based health center are:

• School-based health centers attend to unmet health care needs by placing health care where the kids are and when they need it.
• School-based health centers support the school environment by helping children stay in school and by identifying and addressing health problems that may intervene in the learning process
• School-based health centers support families by allowing parents to stay at work while attending to their child’s routine health care needs
• School-based health centers save money by keeping children out of hospitals and emergency rooms
• School-based health centers strengthen the connection between the community and the school

 Most importantly, school-based health centers keep children in school and ready to learn. Written consent forms signed by parents/guardians are required to be on file at the school-based health center before services can be provided to students.  If you wish to allow your child (children) to receive services, please complete a registration form and return to the Junior/Senior High School Office. A registration form needs to be completed for each student.