(Danville) — Danville school students are getting access to health care without having to go to a doctor’s office.
The Danville School System unveiled a School-Based Health Care model this fall. It’s a partnership with Piedmont Access to Health Services. It provides preventative and primary care to children and adolescents.
Program Coordinator Traci Fitz Scales says they’ve been busy. “We’ve had tremendous waves of getting sports physicals done, we’ve had kiddies come in with headaches and stomach aches,” Fitz Scales told the Danville School Board Thursday. “Anything the school nurse is unable to do, we provide.”
The program operates on the George Washington High School Campus in the CTE Building. The team includes a nurse practitioner, a nurse, a dentist, an Optometrist and a behavioral specialist, along with a supervising physician, and certified community health workers. “If a child does not feel good the night before school they can give us a call and we’ll set an appointment for the next day,” Fitz Scales said. “We do walk-ins as well as appointments.”
Fitz Scales says School-Based Health Care ensures there is access to health care in schools—where children spend most of their day. “The key is they have to be registered with School-Based Health. We cannot touch children unless we have parental consent,” Fitz Scales explained. “So we’ve been pushing the consent and registration forms.”
The program’s goal is to leverage available health care into a boost academic success, attendance, test scores and graduation rates. “We have a lot of families that either do not have access to medical care, they are unable to get appointments and so forth. But we take all insurance carriers,” Fitz-Scales explained.
Staffers coordinate care with other providers to prevent duplication of services. They can treat acute conditions and manage chronic disease. They can also detect illness and risk early on, reducing the need for more expensive treatment later.
Fitz Scales says they’ve worked with the nurses assigned to each individual school in the city. They also coordinate with other local health care providers to make sure there is no duplication of services.
Marsha Mendenhall, CEO of PATHS says this is a project that’s been in the works for some time. “Back in 2018 we had consultants come in and meet with the School Board. Danville Public Schools was gracious enough to let us have the facility that we are in which features an outside entrance.”
Mendenhall adds that the layout of the CTE makes it very secure for patients and staff alike.
There is also a mobile unit that provides services to Pittsylvania County Schools.