Community Health and Wellness (CHWC), based in Torrington, operates three school-based health centers (SBHC) in Region One schools, giving students access to medical health services during the school day. However, medical staff cannot treat students unless their families enroll them in the program.
Becca Malone,a nursewith the program, urged parents during an online discussion Wednesday, March 11, to sign their children up. She emphasized that participation in the SBHC program does not replace a child’s pediatrician.
“It’s just another layer of support.”
CHWC currently operates centers at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, North Canaan Elementary School and Sharon Center School. Both medical and behavioral health services are available at the high school and North Canaan. Sharon currently offers behavioral health only.
There are 276 children enrolled in Region One.
Malone said she believes the school-based model is especially effective “because I get to see the students in their natural habitat.”
When families enroll, anything from routine health procedures to emergencies can be dealt with promptly at school.
Malone said this takes pressure off parents, who otherwise have to miss work in order to get their children to and from medical appointments that often involve a lengthy drive. A prompt response can also preclude an expensive visit to the emergency room at a hospital.
The in-school staff can also coordinate quickly with the school nurse, administrators and teachers.
Raneem El-Ayoub, a licensed clinical social worker, spoke about how the school-based team can respond to signs that a student is experiencing a behavioral problem.
“Are they withdrawn, flat and sad? Or are they acting out, being verbally or physically aggressive?”
With behavioral health, parents tend to react when “something big” happens.
The in-school team can act before the problem gets to that point.
Malone said in the last couple of years she has seen more eating disorder cases at HVRHS than in 15 years at an outpatient facility.
Catching it early is critical. “By the time the parents bring the child to the pediatrician they’re really sick. With school-based health my kids are able to be honest about it so much earlier in the disease process.”
One young woman was in trouble with an eating disorder. Malone was able to get the student to open up about it, and set up a schedule for a twice-weekly check-in.
After six months of that, the frequency changed to once a week, and then once every other week. The child completed an intensive outpatient course of treatment as well.
All of this was done in coordination with the parents, the child’s primary physician, and the high school staff.
“If we hadn’t caught it, it would have been much worse.”
Malone offered another case, that of a young woman who got hit on the head playing volleyball.
She said she saw the child an hour later for what was “an obvious concussion.”
“The whole thing happened quickly and collaboratively,” with the parents, pediatrician and school nurse all involved.
And for follow-up, the pediatrician, who was going on vacation, asked Malone and her team to provide the follow-up.
“We are able to assess a situation and create a safety plan. The child is seen and heard. And we can do it all in a couple of hours.”
