School-Aged Children's Healthcare Background

In 1998, an estimated 10 million U.S. children lacked health insurance and approximately 12 million children did not receive basic preventive care such as periodic physical exams or immunizations. Schools are struggling with teaching the basics because the children have many issues outside the classroom -- including health problems -- that distract them from learning.

Impact
The millions of school-age children without health insurance rarely see a doctor and are 25% more likely to miss school for health-related reasons. For school districts that rely on attendance for state funding, these absences not only affect the learning environment they also affect school economics. Usually when a child misses a day of school because of a health problem, a parent or other adult misses a day of work to tend to that child, which can impact the community through decreased productivity.

With community support, schools are beginning to offer services on site to help address the health needs of children. Not only canschools become sites for primary care, they can also offer early behavioral and mental health interventions and referrals for more intensive services. When healthcare is delivered in school, students spend more time in class than if the health services were delivered off-site or not at all, and the educational and financial impacts unhealthy children have on schools are reduced.

Our Service Region
An estimated 15% of the children living in the Foundation's service region do not have health insurance, private or public. Even children with medical insurance are not all being treated regularly, although the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) offers opportunities for new solutions. In a 1997 survey, the communities in the Greater Cincinnati area ranked children's health programs -- and especially programs for elementary school children -- as the #1 healthcare priority.

In response, communities in the Foundation's service area are beginning to use school-based health services. By targeting services for grades K-8 for funding, the Foundation hopes to build healthy habits and lifestyles in elementary school children that carry through adolescence and adulthood.

School-Aged Children's Healthcare Advisory Group
The Health Foundation convened an Advisory Group of school nurses, pediatricians, educators, and parents of school-aged children in 1998 to assist in understanding the status of school-based health services in our region. This Advisory Group also helped the Foundation develop two strategies to target funding toward the school-based child health initiatives that the community needs most.