Spotlights on SBHCs

CSHC applauds the important work that school-based health centers (SBHCs) do to bring health care to California’s children, and we are shining a spotlight on those practitioners and staff leading the way. The CSHC spotlight is a way for us to share their stories with other SBHCs and communities. To read current and past Spotlights, click on the links below. If you know of an SBHC that we should spotlight please let us know by emailing info@schoolhealthcenters.org.

Lennox Health Clinic (Lennox)

The 1.1-square mile community of Lennox, California lies directly under an LAX flight path and is bounded on all sides by freeways. It is one area of the LA basin that was ripe for a SBHC. With 92% of the children qualifying for free or reduced priced lunches, Lennox School District operates six elementary schools, one middle school, and one charter high school. Until recently, the district had one small health clinic that had originally been established as a Healthy Start clinic, but due to funding cuts, the hours of operation had been cut repeatedly, and the clinic was only open one day a week. Jenny Krusoe, a program and fund development consultant, saw an opportunity at Lennox. She was working with the school district, as well as with To Help Everyone (T.H.E.) Clinic and the Los Angeles County Education Foundation, and saw a chance to bring partners together to rescue the Lennox Clinic. Read more.

Belmont Health Center (Los Angeles)

Rosario Rico, School-Based Health Program Coordinator at Belmont High School in Los Angeles, knows exactly what the students who come into her clinic are going through and the challenges they are facing. Rico was a 16-year old student when she got a job as a peer leader at John Marshall High School’s SBHC. “If it weren’t for working at the health center, I would have been a teen mom,” says Rico. “All my friends were having babies and I’m sure I would have followed that path too — except that I got a job in the health center and became a peer leader.” Rico received training on reproductive health education, became a certified family planning and HIV counselor, and started working with other youth in her school. A decade later she’s back promoting health services for teens at the Belmont Health Center, and determined to provide opportunities for youth to learn, grow and change the course of their lives. Read more.

Salud Para La Gente (Watsonville)

Surrounded by fields of strawberries, acres of lettuce and fragrant apple orchards, Watsonville is a small coastal community in central California with a focus on farming. Serving the students in this rural area is the Pajaro Valley USD which includes 32 schools and some 19,000 students. In 2009, PVUSD signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Salud Para La Gente, a federally qualified health center based in Watsonville with a long history of providing medical and dental services to the people of Pajaro Valley. Salud has a budget of $19.2 million, 12 clinic sites, and serves over 23,000 patients a year. Among Salud’s 12 clinics are seven SBHCs on two middle school and five elementary school campuses. Read more.

Elsa Widenmann Student Health Center (Vallejo)

The Elsa Widenmann Student Health Center is making a big difference for students and local families. A child having seizures was recently examined and found to be living with his condition without medication because his family couldn’t afford it. Clinic staff made certain the student got his seizure medication and also set up an appointment with a neurologist. Another child was brought in who had been awake and crying for two nights with a painful ear infection. He too received the treatment and medication he needed. A third family brought in their daughter who is obese and has had vision problems for years. The clinic will work with her on her weight issues and new glasses are now on order. Read more.

Communities In Schools Health Center at Richmond High School

Located in the heart of the inner city, Richmond High School is surrounded by a community that has been hard hit by the economic downturn and the escalation of gang violence in recent years. Add to that a high profile sexual assault case that generated much negative national media attention, and one gets the sense that this health center and these students have many tough challenges. But a visitor is impressed by the quiet calm pervading the health center and the confidence of Megan Gasser, Health Services Coordinator, who has been working at Richmond High for four years. Read more.

Fresno County Office of Education Mobile Health Van (Fresno)

Behind the wheel of a full-sized RV that has been converted into a mobile health clinic, Lois Ewert is once again headed down the highway to a rural community an hour away from Fresno. Ewert, a nurse practitioner with the Fresno County Office of Education (FCOE), travels to isolated communities where health services are not easily accessible to students and families. Read more.

Palomar High School and Southwest High School Health Centers (Chula Vista and San Diego)

The health centers at Palomar High School in Chula Vista and Southwest High School in San Diego are a three-way partnership between the Scripps Family Medicine Residency Program, San Ysidro Health Center, and the Sweetwater Union High School District . “Because of this three-way commitment, no one party is carrying the full financial burden to support the health centers for the long-term,” explains Dr. Shaila Serpas of Scripps. “That’s really helped us with sustainability issues.” Read more.