School-based health centers not only help improve the health and education of students but have a profound benefit on communities as a whole, said Lavaca (Ark.) Schools Superintendent Jared Cleveland in a Clinton School speech Tuesday.
Cleveland spoke of the need in Arkansas for school-based health centers, particularly in areas such as Lavaca where more than 50 percent of children are covered or eligible to be covered by Medicaid. The clinic on the Lavaca Middle School campus “plays a huge and vital role in the lives of our children,” he said.
After the Lavaca Wellness Center opened in January of 2011, sick and personal day usage of both students and teachers dropped 21 percent as compared to the three previous spring semesters. Cleveland said.
“If a student is unhealthy, they are less likely to be successful, not only in the academic arena but in the arena of life,” he said.
While serving the school and its students, the Lavaca center is open to the entire community and averages more than 400 patients per month, Cleveland said. In addition to full-time nurses and doctors, the Center also offers appointments in dental, ophthalmologic, audiological and mental health services.
Funding for the Center is provided through Gov. Mike Beebe’s Arkansas Coordinated School Health Initiative, which was implemented as part of a 2009 increase in the state’s Tobacco Excise Tax. With additional funding from a Maternal and Child Health Block Grant, Lavaca was able to transform two dilapidated classrooms into a beautiful clinic to serve the community, Cleveland said.
Most of the medical supplies were donated by CURE, a local organization that collects and donates medical supplies to clinics and hospitals around the world.
This post was written by Clinton School student Veena Rangaswami (’13).