For more information on the Rally and the Convention go to: NASBHC.org

Key findings include:
 An increase in SBHCs have been in existence for more than 5 years
 A growing number of SBHCs see members of the community beyond the schools they serve
 More SBHCs are using health information technology (HIT) to support their work.
This is important news for SBHCs. The implications for Maine are …. For more in formation please review the report: NASBHC Census Report

NASBHC March 2010 Newsletter

(Washington, DC) Tonight, the House voted 219 to 212 to pass the Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590). The Senate bill includes two important provisions for school-based health centers (SBHCs): language authorizing a federal SBHC grant program that would provide $50 million over five years, and an emergency appropriation that would provide $200 million for SBHCs over two years.
The following is a statement by Linda Jusczcak, Executive Director of the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC):
“Today’s historic signing marks an unprecedented victory for school-based health centers. On behalf of the 2,000 school-based health centers across the country, we congratulate President Obama, his Administration, and Congress for this great success.
“School-based health centers ensure that more than 1 million children and adolescents across the country gain access to high quality, comprehensive medical care, mental health services, preventive care, social services, and youth development. These services are provided without concern for students’ ability to pay and in a location that meets children and adolescents where they are: at school.
“Now, thanks to this legislation and the path it creates towards future reform, fewer school-based health centers will be forced to shutter their doors because of state budget cuts, and more communities that desire to open a health clinic at their school will have the critical resources to do so.
“We’re proud of the passionate and tireless efforts school-based health center staff, advocates, and students have put into building support for this historic legislation—including creating virtual tours of their clinics, writing hundreds of letters, making thousands of phone calls, and traveling to visit their Members of Congress. We look forward to supporting other health care reform-related provisions through the reconciliation process.”
# # #
The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) is the national voice for school-based health centers (SBHCs). Founded in 1995 to promote and support the SBHC model, NASBHC’s mission is to improve the health status of children and youth by advancing and advocating for school-based health care. Learn more at www.nasbhc.org.

Student advisors this year include Justin Greeley, Chuck Hays, Tyler Whitman, Kate Laliberte, Ben Johnson, Emily Allen, Jackson Pineau, Ben Barnes, Adrienne Nel, Isabel Smith and Emma Olson. All 11 students are able to go – Cindy Flye and Kini Tinkham, along with Randy Schwartz, Kini’s husband, will join the students.

On the morning of March 18th we will visit the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care – staff will review the current status of health care reform and and will share additional talking points for us to use at our visits with Senator Snowe and Collins and Representatives Michaud and Pingree. The National Assembly’s Communication Director is hoping to arrange having NPR follow us for the day – will keep you posted

On Thursday afternoon we will be touring the Capitol and have meetings scheduled with Senators Collins and Senator Snowe as well as a health policy staff member of Senator Snowe.

On Friday, 3/19/10, we have an early morning White House tour followed by scheduled meetings with both Rep Pingree and Rep Michaud.

Friday evening we will have a tour of the monuments and Saturday morning will visit the Holocaust Museum.

We continue to do fundraising for our trip – in addition to the $4500 set aside in the Kellogg Foundation Grant, the students have needed to raise another $4000. We have done really well selling note cards of the health center wall mural – if anyone is interested in buying a box for $10 just let us know. Parents, community members, and local organizations have also donated funds!!

We are very excited and will look forward to sharing our adventures with you upon our return!

Cindy T. Flye
Health Center Coordinator

http://www.nasbhc.org/atf/cf/%7Bcd9949f2-2761-42fb-bc7a-cee165c701d9%7D/FEBRUARY%202010%20POLICY%20UPDATE.PDF

The passage of health-care reform in the House of Representatives was an important and exciting moment for all those dedicated to the idea that all Americans need and deserve access to high quality, affordable health care.

Maine’s two representatives, Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree, deserve a vote of thanks from all of us for being part of the majority that made this happen.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a large and complex piece of legislation, with many important provisions. One of them of particular interest to families and children concerns school-based health centers (SBHCs).

SBHCs provide a vital link in delivering health care to kids who need it most. The health reform bill creates a new program that will support SBHCs at many locations in Maine and around the country.
I am the coordinator of Maranacook Community School’s Student Health Center and a member of the Maine Assembly on School-Based Health Care.

We are thrilled that the House saw the wisdom of incorporating this successful program into a national vision for health care.
Now, we must get on with the equally important job of passing a Senate bill, that ensures access to high quality, affordable health care. To make the important investments in our children that we know are needed, and will pay big dividends in the future, we must finish the work that has been so successfully begun.

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins must support health-care reform that will meet the needs of all our children.

Cindy Flye
Manchester

On 10/29 and 10/30, I traveled to Washington, DC as part of the RWJ-funded Caring Across Communities project lead by the the Portland School’s Multicultural Program. As part of the 2 day mtg, we met with staffers from Senator Snowe and Congresswoman Pingree’s office to stress the importance of school-based health services for multicultural populations. We also thanked Senator Snowe again for her courage in moving forward on the health care reform legislation and urged her support of a public option.

Submitted by:
Lisa Belanger MSN, NP
Family Health Program Manager
Public Health Division/H&HS Dept
City of Portland @
Reiche Health Station

Two Calais High Students Present Workshop at The National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) Annual Conference  

 Sean Cavanaugh and Jesse Clark, both long-time members of the Calais Middle/High School Blue Devil Health Center’s Teen Advocacy Group (the TAG Team), recently attended the National Assembly of School-Based Health Center’s annual convention as presenters of a workshop titled Herding Cats!: How One SBHC learned to TAG and Release Youth Advocacy Using the Net. The were assisted and accompanied by Jay Skriletz, the TAG Team advisor and Blue Devil SBHC’s Youth and Community Advocacy Co-coordinator. The convention was attended by over 700 individuals from all corners of the United States, and nearly 50 youth advocacy coordinators, school-based health center administrators and providers, and youth advocates registered for the workshop.

The presentation opened with a brief history of the TAG Team’s first five years. In the overview many projects were discussed, both those that have been big successes and those that were less successful. Time constraints are always a difficulty and one common to many youth advocacy groups. The desire to explore the web for solutions to this difficulty is what led to the discoveries the presentation shared at the conference.

Youth Advocacy is a very important service provided by the school-based health centers. It gives youth a voice in the services that affect them most closely and elicits strong commitments from youth to better their schools, health centers, and communities. Herding Cats! Focused on how various internet tools, many of them beta, or development (and usually free), versions can facilitate the work of youth advocates by encouraging “virtual” meetings and collaborations using the internet. Some of the tools were virtual classrooms like moodle.org and wiziq.com; others are the common social networking sites like facebook.com and twitter.com which, even though are not available on the schools’ web-server, are commonly used by many organizations to connect with similar groups and potential funders; video conferencing sites like skype.com and oovoo.com were also discussed as ways that youth advocates can meet with youth from other schools and also with community partners in several parts of the state without traveling.

Both on-line chatting and video-conferencing were actually used to collaborate with students at Indian Township Elementary School and the staff at the Holocaust and Human Rights Resource Center at the University of Maine in Augusta to make progress on the Telling Truth oral history project the TAG Team contributed to this past year. The virtual classrooms are in regular use as meeting places and bulletin boards that team members use to share information and ideas when their busy schedules make it difficult to meet.

The presentation concluded with the lessons the team has learned during the time spent exploring internet tools. Most importantly is that these tools are no substitute for the bonding that happens in face-to-face meetings. These tools offer support for the working relationships and commitments the Team forges during meetings and celebrations. The presentation was warmly received and both Sean and Jesse were highly regarded as public speakers.