Basic High hopes to break new ground on health center

By Emily Richmond

Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 | 10:34 a.m.

Basic High School hopes to become the first Henderson campus in the Clark County School District to have an onsite health center, providing students with everything from immunizations to hearing and vision screenings.

As the district continues to grow, more and more students are coming to school with illnesses and health needs that require immediate attention, said Sally Jost, assistant director and chief nurse for the district's health services.

While the primary responsibility belongs to the parents, schools have traditionally provided referrals to social services and agencies to help, Jost said.

The campus-based health centers are a way of consolidating those resources, Jost said.

"When you have kids who can't see the blackboard or come to class with an abscessed tooth, you can't proceed with any kind of meaningful educational experience until those issues are addressed," Jost said. "The health centers give us another means of reaching out to students and their families."

There are currently three campuses with onsite health centers operating in cooperation with the Clark County Health District -- Valley High School, Roy Martin Middle School and C.P. Squires Elementary School in North Las Vegas. Staffed by nurse practitioners, the centers have received over $2 million in grants from the Task Force for a Healthy Nevada, which distributes tobacco company settlement money.

"Students can be treated right at the school rather than being sent home which meant lost instructional time," said Barbara Ludwig, a registered nurse hired by the health district to develop the school-based centers. "We're also able to do more preventative care, so that students get help when the health problem is still minor, instead of when it's catastrophic and they wind up in the ER."

The first school-based health center to open was Roy Martin in 2001. In addition to screenings and treatment, the health center has been providing the physical exams required for participation in after-school sports.

"We've had kids tell us they could never play before because their families didn't have health insurance of their parents couldn't afford the exams," Ludwig said. "It breaks your heart, but you're thrilled they're getting the chance now to do everything their peers get to do."

While the center at Squires has been open for just a month, the nurses have already helped students with vision problems, head lice and hearing loss, said Principal Carol Lark.

"I have parents who have been afraid to send their children to school because of their asthma," Lark said Thursday. "Now I can tell them we have a health center with a nurse practitioner on-site, and that's very reassuring to them."

The health centers also cut down on absenteeism, because the staff is allowed to treat students for minor illnesses or injuries and dispense medication, something the regular school nurse isn't allowed to do.

"The only thing we can offer students is a place to rest until we can reach their parents to take them home," said Yvonne Chaves, the school nurse at Basic. "We can't dispense anything, not even Tylenol for something like a headache."

The Basic health center would also serve students from Mahlon Brown Junior High School, C.T. Sewell and Robert Taylor elementary schools. Ultimately more than 4,500 students in the district's southeast region could benefit, said Basic Principal Susan Segal.

The school received a $10,000 planning grant earlier this year to draft the proposal and is seeking another $65,832 from the city of Henderson's Community Block Grant Program to fund renovations necessary to open the health center at the start of the 2004-05 academic year, Segal said.

"The community is going to get something, the students are going to get something and everybody wins," said Scott Byleckie, who teaches health, biology and sports medicine at Basic.

If plans for the new center at Basic move ahead as expected, it would be the first in the district to offer a job shadowing program for students, Ludwig said. Partnerships are planned with both Nevada State College and the Community College of Southern Nevada, Ludwig said.

Molly Munguia, a senior at Basic, said she was looking forward to the chance to return to her alma mater as a nursing student at the state college next year. The job shadowing would give students in Basic's health, wellness and medical technology institute a head start on college, Munguia said.

"We need more programs that give students real exposure to the health fields with hands-on opportunities," Munguia said. "You get a real idea of what you would be doing as a career."