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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2009
Contact: Gia Storms
(212) 669-4813; (917) 626-6757
Release #:007-2009
PA Gotbaum Calls on City and State to Use Stimulus Money for School-Based Health Services
President Obama has called for "the largest investment ever" in preventive care
Read Report [pdf]
MANHATTAN – Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum today called on New York City to work with the state to direct funds from President Obama’s economic stimulus package to school-based health services and to develop a long-term, comprehensive child health plan. School-based health centers (SBHCs), located within public schools, remove barriers to preventive and routine care for city public school children.
Nearly two million children live in New York City - more than in any other city in the United States. School-based health centers bring health services, like dental care, obesity prevention and asthma control, free of charge to the places kids spend most of their time, and help remove barriers (including lack of transportation, parent’s inability to take time off work, administrative obstacles, and language barriers) to accessing preventive care. Improving access to preventive care would help decrease more costly hospitalizations and emergency room visits.
President Obama’s new stimulus package includes nearly $1 billion “for prevention and wellness programs to fight preventable diseases and conditions with evidence-based strategies.” For New York State, this means $60 million for public health programming, funding that could potentially be used, in part, to increase the number of school-based health centers and develop more preventive school-based health and wellness programs in city schools.
The Public Advocate’s new report, More Than Band-Aids: Investing in Public School-based Health Services to Improve Child Health and Well-Being, highlights the opinions of advocates on school-based health services, and includes papers from: Megan Charlop, School Health Program at Montefiore Medical Center; Dr. Alan Shapiro, South Bronx Health Center for Children and Families; and Elizabeth Howell, Community Healthcare Network.
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said, “Putting health care services in our schools makes sense: It is one-stop-shopping for parents, and it has been proven to help keep children and adolescents healthier by breaking down the barriers to accessing preventive healthcare. With these incoming federal funds, we have a unique opportunity to strengthen tried-and-true services like school-based health centers, helping the families that need them most.”
The Public Advocate recommends that New York City:
--Actively pursue a long-term goal of placing a SBHC in every building and campus that serves high schools;
--Create a long-term plan to place appropriate school-based health services in every city school starting with a basic needs assessment for all schools that currently lack school-based health services;
--Support partnerships with community-based health centers and wellness programs that address the specific health needs of each schools;
Create a public-private fund to support city funding of school-based health services; and
--Ensure that all new schools planned by the School Construction Authority (SCA) have the capacity necessary for health services.
The Public Advocate recommends that New York State:
--Create a mechanism for SBHCs to receive reimbursement for services provided to children enrolled in Child Health Plus (CHP); and
--Change state regulations to allow Medicaid reimbursement for school-based nutrition counseling services.
--According to the Centers for Disease Control, health-related factors such as hunger, chronic illness, and unhealthy behavior are linked to academic failure and can negatively affect students’ school attendance, grades, test scores and ability to pay attention. By contrast, studies consistently show that school health programs can “minimize the extent to which health problems become obstacles to success in school.”
The first school-based health center was opened in New York City in 1983 at the Manhattan Center for Science and Math High School. A grant-funded state initiative has ultimately established more than 120 SBHCs in New York City to date, but fewer than a dozen school-based health centers are funded by the city.
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