After closing in March of 2020, Grand Rapids Public Schools reopened their school-based health centers on Oct. 4, providing the same level of care as before while incorporating changes made in the past year.
At the GRPS health centers, the medical providers are in the centers each day, but the dental and behavioral health teams are only there a few days a week, Wade said.
Wade said the centers see about 30 students a day when all three teams are in the building.
GRPS and Cherry Health
The district has three school-based health centers — one at Union High School, one at Innovation Central High School and one at Ottawa Hills High School — said Kirstyn Wade, the nurse facilitator for GRPS.
The centers are open to any student in the district to receive free medical, dental and behavioral health services during the school day, Wade said.
Wade said that with parental consent students can “get their teeth cleaned, get a physical or get up to date immunizations” while they are at school.
GRPS partners with Cherry Health to provide these services. The health centers are staffed by Cherry Health, she said.
Wade said the centers are still working on getting students back into and coordinating appointments with Cherry Health.
For more from Wade’s interview, click here
Care During the Pandemic
Christopher Ayers, the associate site manager for Cherry Health’s school-based health centers, said each center is staffed with a medical provider, a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, a medical assistant and a front office patient registration specialist.
While the centers were closed, Cherry Health was sending students to the Burton Community Health Center located in Burton High School, Ayers said. Since the Burton location is a community health center, students, parents and other members of the local community can be seen there, he said.
“One of the blessings was that the Burton provider used to be a provider within our school-based health centers,” Ayers said. “A lot of the kids had already known and established care with her previously.”
Post-Pandemic Services
Wade said the medical teams are establishing themselves within the schools. Since the centers were closed for so long there will be an adjustment period, she said.
The health centers are trying to bring back the level and quality of care they provided before shutting down, she said.
“Being able to get everything running smoothly is the priority right now,” Wade said. “Eventually we hope to start providing COVID vaccines.”
Despite reopening, the school health centers are still offering virtual services, Wade said.
“If one of our providers isn’t available at one of the buildings we can have students do a virtual appointment and still receive care,” she said. “We’ve adapted to virtual visits and Telehealth, which is a change from before.”
Wade said the centers allow students to schedule appointments but they also accept walk-ins.
History of School-Based Health Centers
Renee Topolski, the deputy director of School Community Health Alliance of Michigan, an advocacy group that does policy work for school-based health centers, said school-based health centers have been instrumental in partnering with schools.
“If the district has a school-based health center, we’re partnering with them, and our centers are right there to figure out a safe opening plan for the schools,” Topolski said.
School-based health centers first opened about 30 years ago, she said.
“At first they were targeted toward kids in schools that had high Medicaid populations as a way to get high quality, primary and mental health care to those students,” Topolski said.
Progression of Care
Topolski said the network of school-based health centers has grown. There are now over 200 locations in Michigan, she said.
“It’s not just targeted toward those Medicaid populations anymore,” Topolski said. “We’ve learned that all students, regardless of where they’re living, need access to services.”
Wade said that the health centers will bill insurance companies if the student has insurance, but uninsured or underinsured students can still be seen.
“Insurance would never be a barrier for them to not receive services,” she said.
Funding for School-Based Health Centers
Topolski said all funding for school-based health centers typically comes from the state budget.
Funding for fiscal year 22 is also provided through the Department of Health and Human Services budget, Topolski said.
Supporting Students
The target population for school-based health centers is age 5 through 21, Topolski said.
“We don’t want students to be cut off for their services as soon as they graduate from high school,” she said. “Health centers try to work with the students to line them up with services after they’ve aged out of our system.”
Topolski said that before the pandemic over 200,000 students were seen each year at school health centers.
Wade said that the schools with health centers still have school nurses to help with more traditional care.
“If a student needs a more thorough exam, medication or a prescription, having a provider in the school really does streamline the process,” she said.