The Magnolia Elementary School Based Health Center has served this Title I school for over 10 years. Last year, the Magnolia site enrolled 290 children (59% of the school) and conducted 100 visits to students and their family members. Magnolia’s SBHC also provides weekly mental health counseling sessions and direct counseling to students.For the 2014-2015 school year, the Magnolia Elementary SBHC has forged a partnership with the newly established Judy Center at Magnolia Elementary. The Judy Center provides early childhood education and support services for children ages 0 to 5 and their families. Judy Center’s are specific to Title I school districts across Maryland with the goal of promoting school readiness for young children and their families. This partnership will expand the reach of the Magnolia SBHC into the community with a special focus on children younger than school-age. The SBHC Nurse Practitioner will provide both well child visits and acute visits to Judy Center clients, both children and family members.

In addition to the collaboration with the Judy Center, the Magnolia Elementary SBHC offers two additional programs to advance student school performance and school readiness. The first is the American Lung Association Open Airways Program which teaches and empowers children to take control of their own asthma self-management. This group-based program also has a component that includes parents in their child’s asthma control. The second intervention, new this year, is the Magnolia Elementary SBHC’s acceptance as a Reach Out and Read site. Reach Out and Read is a program which prepares children 0 to 5 to succeed in school by partnering with medical professionals who give developmentally-appropriate books to children at their well child visits and advise parents on the importance of reading aloud to children. The program places a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities and the children served enter kindergarten with stronger language skills and larger vocabularies.

Additional Services Provided by the Magnolia School Based Health Center include:

• Physical exams
• Well-child visits for children ages 6 Months to 5 Years — including the Reach Out and Read model
• Acute illness exams and treatment
• Follow-up medical care
• Individual and group-based chronic disease management
• Behavioral health counseling
• Partnership with the Judy Center at Magnolia

The Howard County Health Department in collaboration with the Howard County Public School system and the Howard County Government, opened Howard County’s first school-based wellness center located at Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup, Maryland.

The Bollman Bridge Wellness Center provides preventive and primary health care services to children throughout the school day and is open 5 days a week. The center is staffed by a full-time nurse practitioner, who is the clinician providing the medical services; a full-time medical office assistant that registers patients, performs health measurements, obtains specimens; a full-time licensed social worker who provides mental health services; and physician Dr. Jackie Douge, who oversees the medical care and the program.

All services require enrollment in the program and written consent from the parents and/or guardians. Children of Bollman Bridge staff can also be enrolled and seen. In its first year, the wellness center enrolled 346 children in the program (46% of the school) resulting in a total of 122 unduplicated visits (35% user rate) and 215 visits overall. The wellness center also provides mental health services and thus far, the mental health counselor has held 211 sessions with students. The key to Bollman Bridge’s successful enrollment has been the support of the local county government and the support of of the school principal, Jonathan Davis. Principal Davis saw the need for a wellness center and was instrumental in gearing up support from the staff and the school families.

Bollman Bridge Wellness Center services include:

• Annual/Camp/Sports Physicals
• Immunizations (including flu vaccines)
• Treatment for illnesses: Strep throat, ear infections and more
• Management of obesity, asthma, and other stable chronic illnesses
• Behavioral health counseling: sadness, anger and other concerns

For more information on Bollman Bridge Elementary Wellness Center click here