Success Stories
Jefferson Parish School-Based Health Centers
“Its hard to completely understand what some of these kids are going through,” explains Angie Ruiz, coordinator of Jefferson Parish School-Based Health Centers.
As the coordinator of medical and mental health services for Jefferson Parish schools, Ruiz sees students with everything from minor aches and pains to issues that, if not addressed, can lead to a very long and difficult life. As she says, “I’m not sure where some of these children would end up if it weren’t for our school-based health centers. For some, we are their only source for medical and mental health care.”
By partnering with School Health Connection, Ruiz says, the parish school-based health centers are able to better provide needed services in Jefferson Parish elementary, middle, and high schools. These services include everything from preventative medical care to urgent medical and mental health services. As Ruiz explains, There isnt a day that goes by that you dont realize how much of an impact you are having on our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
For instance there was the case of a 17-year-old female student who went to her school-based health clinic for a pre-physical exam. Clinic personnel noticed bruising on both arms and questioned the young student who responded with various stories, saying it was everything from an allergic reaction to wool to scratches from a new kitten. The teen finally confided that she was using heroin and cocaine and with the help of a SBHC social worker, was placed into rehab and is back in school working toward graduating with her class.
Today, with the help of SHC, school-based health clinics are slowly reopening after Hurricane Katrina. These centers, according to Ruiz, were necessary before the storm, but now they are critical because of the lack of health care in the New Orleans area since Katrina. Doctors and other medical professionals, especially those who helped the uninsured or underinsured, are gone, as well as the facilities that provided services to those individuals.
As Ruiz explains, “We are reconnecting with students that we saw before the hurricane and it really shows what we were able to accomplish with our school-based health clinics. Some of these children have not received any care since they evacuated and it shows. We are working to get them back into the system and get them the help they need.”
In a case that proves this point, Ruiz says they now have contact with two young boys who both had failed more than two grades while still in grammar school. Before Katrina, both boys were diagnosed by SBHC personnel with ADHD. Both students were referred to specialists who were able to work with them as well as provide them with needed medication. After evacuating with their family and staying away for over a year, neither boy received the proper medicine and therapy and it was obvious upon their return to Jefferson Parish. “Happily,” Ruiz says, “We have reconnected with both these students to get them the help they need and they are doing much better.”
