Boone County School-Based Health Centers

School-Based Health Centers are a collaborative effort between the Northern Kentucky Health Department, Boone County Local Board of Health and the Boone County Board of Education and Walton-Verona Board of Education.

Purpose
The School-Based Health Centers connect children to a health care provider at their school. This decreases the likelihood of the child missing school in order to visit a doctor for services like immunizations and well-child exams.

School-Based Health Centers are not intended to replace the child’s health care provider. Services provided in the schools can treat anything from a cut received on the playground to tuberculosis screenings while lessening the time children have to spend outside the classroom for doctor’s visits.

When the needs of the child are more serious, the School-Based Health Centers refer the child to a primary care physician, optometrist, dentist, registered dietitian or to other Health Department services.

Services

The following services are provided through the School-Based Health Centers:

·        School physicals

·        Immunizations

·        Well-child examinations

·        Assessment, evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of minor acute illnesses such as sore throats and ear aches (not available in Walton-Verona)

·        Education about health, nutrition, safety, growth and development and dental care

·        Tobacco education

·        Hygiene classes

·        Screenings for scoliosis

·        Dental varnishes

Eligibility

·        All students are eligible for services regardless of income. To enroll in the program, the parents must complete a health history for the child, as well as a permission form

Benefits

According to The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati’s 2005 report “A Prescription to Success,”

·        For every $1 spent on school-based health care there was a social benefit of $2.

·        Parents of children utilizing school-based health care had a reduction in lost income since they did not have to miss work for their child to receive medical care. In Greater Cincinnati, this benefit was calculated to save more than $500,000 for half-days of work not taken off by parents, and more than $1 million for full-full days of work not taken off by parents in order to take their children to a health care provider.

Locations

R.A. Jones Middle School
800 Spruce Drive
Florence, KY 41042
859.282.4610

Conner Middle School
3300 Cougar Path
Hebron, KY 41048
859.334.4410

Ockerman Middle School
8300 U.S. 42
Florence, KY 41042
859.282.3240

Walton-Verona Middle School
Walton-Verona High School
30 School Road
Walton, KY 41094
859.485.7721, Ext. 1302

More information
For more information on the Boone County School-Based Health Centers, please call the Boone County Health Center at 859.363.2060.