School-based health clinics nurture bodies, not just minds

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - This isn’t your traditional school nurse’s office.

Across the state, more school-based health clinics, supported by grants and taxpayers, are springing up so children — both with and without health insurance — can have free dental checkups, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and sports physicals without ever leaving school.

More than 60 of these centers operate in Maryland, including in Baltimore City and Baltimore and Harford counties, and more could open under Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration.

On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown visited the decade-old clinic at Northwestern High School in Baltimore, where 50 students visit a day.

“This is consistent with our efforts to expand health care to everyone,” he said.

“We’d like to see these types of programs expand.”

Northwestern’s health center, operated with the help of a grant and the city Health Department, serves as the primary health provider for about 30 immigrant children, said Susan Borinsky, the clinic’s pediatric nurse practitioner.

Healthier students mean better attendance and graduation rates and fewer school fights, said Tajah Gross, Northwestern’s principal.

“The centers are good for business because it cuts down on parental absenteeism,” said Lisa Kramer, field operations manager for the Maryland Assembly on School-based Health Care. “When uninsured kids get an ear infection, they go to an emergency room, and this cuts down on ER visits.”

Misbehaving students are often sent from the school office to the centers for treatment of health problems that cause them to rebel, nurses and principals said.

Students go to the clinic to learn anger management skills, attend grief counseling, get help with eating disorders and undergo therapy to deal with the struggle of having drug-addicted parents.

Clinic nurses have more time to spend with students than busy physicians, which has saved lives, Borinsky said.

She noticed a girl’s eyes twitching, a sign of a neurological condition. Weeks later, the girl needed surgery by Ben Carson, the famous Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon.

“She could have died,” Borinsky said.

For other students, the center is a place for free asthma treatment, STD screenings and birth control.

“I was happy the test came back negative,” said Kevin Hall, 17, a junior.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com

Advertisement