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ZEBULON - A meeting was held on January 12, 2012 to begin strategic planning for the proposed Pike County School Based Health Center. Mike Powell, Executive Director of Pike County’s You Equal Success (Y.E.S.) Team, Inc. which is part of the Georgia Family Connection Collaborative to continue discussion a School Based Health Center in Pike County Primary School brought participants together to discuss further needs assessment findings, define what team roles would be, and come up with a strategy for how to adapt this program to fit local needs. About 35 community leaders and providers from Pike and surrounding counties attended this meeting.
Regina Abbott is playing the role of the facilitator and explained how this process will work over the next 8 months. Added 1.28.12: Michael Powell clarifed by email that there will be a one hour meeting per month for each strategy team, and one large group meeting per quarter with all three strategy teams.
There will be a Services Team, a Facilities Team, and a Revenue Development Team. Members of each team will meet to determine the goals that are set with the final product in mind. In this way, each of the sections and the entire group will be a part of a strategy planning team that will produce a plan for the Pike County School Based Health Center by August 31, 2012. This strategy plan must be completed and submitted to Emory by September 1, 2012 with implementation of the plan required by September or October of 2012. Added 1.28.12: Michael Powell advised by email that the strategy plan will also be reviewed by school system superintendent Dr. Michael Duncan prior to presentation to the Pike County Board of Education for consideration of approval.
The Services Team will examine questions such as what services will be offered and which community partners are best equipped to deliver these services. The Facilities Team will work to find a location for the School Based Health Center. And the Revenue Development Team will work to find sources of revenue that will be a part of the business plan for the School Based Health Center to be self-sustaining.
The target population is currently the Pre-K and Primary School students but it could expand at a later date. It was stressed during the meeting that the local level defines the scope of services and that the School Based Health Center will operate within community values as well as within state statutes. Wants, needs, what the community will accept, and what can be afforded will be the topic of the February 8, 2012 meeting.
Needs Assessments have been completed based on community assets and the number of students in the Pike County Primary School as well as the number of students who are living in poverty according statistics provided by the Georgia Department of Education. Pike County Primary School parents, teachers, and community leaders also filled out surveys that are being considered for the School Based Health Center.
Click here to read Needs Assessment findings that include the parent and teacher surveys as well as a community leader opinion survey from the December 15, 2011 meeting. This link has been updated with additional information.
Click here to read how a School Based Health Center supports the school, responds to the community, focuses on the student, delivers comprehensive care, advances health promotion activities, implements effective systems, and provides leadership in adolescent and child health.
Click here to read the role of the community in defining a School Based Health Center.
“Who will be ultimately responsible for the School Based Health Center?” was a question that was asked in this meeting. It was said in the meeting that “typically” the providers provide services or that there is a separate organization/board that is responsible for the School Based Health Center. It was also said that sometimes there is an advisory board with a practitioner as the leader of that board. Added 1.28.12: Michael Powell advised by email that the governing/advisory board is to represent a cross section of the community inclusive of a medical/health care professional. Each of the health practitioners would do their own billing so this would be separate from the school but located within the school so the school would not be in charge of the School Based Health Center. It was also said in an earlier meeting that student participation would not be mandatory.
Edd Sanders, Chairman of the Pike County Department of Family and Children’s Services, stressed the role of the community in the making of decisions that will impact this School Based Health Center. “This is your program,” said Edd Sanders to the participants in the meeting. This program will be what participants decide for it to be during this 8 month long planning process with an emphasis on the needs of the parents and children and how best to meet these needs.
Mike Powell stressed that this program needs a way to sustain itself so it is not a burden to the community. This program “could go big or could add a piece at a time,” he said. He went on to tell participants that their input is “incredibly vital”.
The next meeting will be held on February 8, 2012 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at the Professional Learning Center Meeting Room #2 located in the old Pike County Middle/High School (next to Ruth's Restaurant). The program is presented by the Pike Community Resource Network which is part of the Georgia Family Connection statewide network of county collaboratives committed to cultivating public and private collaboration at a local level. RSVP by February 6, 2011 to Michael Powell at 770-567-2930 or powellm@pike.k12.ga.us.
Added on 1.28.12 per email from Michael Powell: Strategy Team Chair Persons will meet with Regina Abbott and Mike Powell on the second Wednesday of each month on March 14, April 11, June 13, and July 11 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Following the meeting on February 8, 2012, the next quarterly meeting with all strategic planning teams will be May 9, 2012. A strategic planning workshop is planned for August 8, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. There is still time for volunteers to be a part of the strategic planning of this School Based Health Center initiative.
Additional Resources:
Click here to read the December 28, 2011 article entitled "School-Based Health Clinic Grant Awarded". This article has links so that readers can look into the program in depth.
Click here to read the December 1, 2011 article about this Lunch and Learn and link to information that was distributed to the Pike County Board of Commissioners in the November night meeting.