Editorial: Schools as clinics

Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.

Right now there are three campuses in the Clark County School District that have onsite health centers operated by the Clark County Health District. Starting next academic year, a fourth health center could be added, this one at Basic High School in Henderson. The new health center also would be available for students from Mahlon Brown Junior High School and C.T. Sewell and Robert Taylor elementary schools.

If a child is chronically sick, and can't see a doctor because his parents' employer doesn't provide health insurance, then that naturally will affect his performance at school. While we're glad to see that another school-based health center will open, at the same time it's also disheartening because that means children aren't receiving the kind of health care they should be getting in the first place. That's a situation that will substantially change only when enough employers do the right thing and make sure their employees, and in turn their families, have decent health insurance.

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