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

The Maranacook Student Health Center, a school-based health center in Readfield, has a part-time opening for a Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant for 10-12 hours per week during the school year – beginning late August 2010. MaineGeneral Health Associates provides medical oversight and support to the student health center. Experience with adolescents is preferred as well as experience using an electronic medical record.

Maranacook Community School’s Student Health Center, the longest running school-based health center in Maine, serves students in grades 6-12. Services provided complement those of a student’s primary care provider and include acute medical care and reproductive health services.

If interested in applying please contact Cindy Flye,Health Center Coordinator, at cindy_flye@maranacook.org

To view the video please follow this link..or go to the right of this site and click onto the video under Youth Advocacy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHhx_UZECRA

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

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

Hello every one let me start by introducing who we are. We are the young people, the next generation of leaders. We are the ones who will bring harmony, equality, farness, and justice by learning from one another and by teaching one another. We are the leaders of tomorrow and the ones who will lead the way for the ones younger then us. We are the generation of change. We are youth that are trying to make both our community and the world a better place by tackling one issue at a time.

We are a group that is called “What’s Next?” from Portland High School and we are working with the Portland High Health Center to educate teens about health issues by doing peer to peer projects. The reason why we got started was because In the year 2008 about 3 or 4 students where stunned at the rate of teen pregnancies in our school and community so they came together to discuss this issue and to find a way to prevent and to educate. With every group meeting that was held by these students a room was filled with passion and even more interest in all that we could accomplished. From that we planned our first presentation which got Portland high students asking “what next?” will we present. That’s where our club name “What’s Next?” came from. With the help of Portland High School’s health center and our adviser Phyl Rubinstein we continued these presentations and later on we did an HIV/AIDS awareness day which was so successful that we actually ran out of testing tools and the health center had to order more immediately.

The reason why this group and what we do is so important is because it is effective in raising awareness and getting the youths attention* we realized that peer to peer projects and a twist of creativity made people interested in what we had to say; it made people listening and it made many think about their own lives and how they can keep themselves safe. Our presentations helped many students realize that there are places and resources available to them in their communities and better yet their school. This group is important because by it we inspire, prevent, and most importantly educate.

Our health center offers just about every thing the doctors office offers, such as teeth cleaning, birth control, shots, physicals, and we even have a social worker who takes care of mental health needs. We know through research that school based health centers keeps students in school and decreases absenteeism; not only that, but we also Provide health care for student who mights not have it.

If there is no funding to keep the health center open, then like I said before, there may be students that would be left without a school health center that offered many of the same things the doctors office did. If we didn’t have funding then we would be left with out a supervisor to coordinate our club. If we are left without funding, then we cant get creative with much of our projects. Which mean it could be harder to bring in speakers to come and talk to our students. If we didn’t have funding then it would be difficult to continue doing all that we are working on right now.

What we are doing is one step closer to a better world* we are preventing many students from engaging in risky behaviors and through it I know we are changing at least a handfull of students with each project presented. We are Portland high school students and we would like to say thank you for listening.

Submitted by:
Cindy Dolben, RN
School Health Center Coordinator

Please find attached a document outlining the lengthy process that was taken to expand services offered in the Noble Health Center. We hope this will help other health centers considering expanding their services. Patricia Buck-Welton, Proj. Coordinator, Maine Assembly

Microsoft Word – Noble Health Center Service Expansion Plan

Presentation Title : Improving the Health & Well-being of Young People While Addressing Barriers to Learning – The Benefits of a Comprehensive School-Based Health Center (SBHC)

Superintendent Rich Abramson and Health Center Coordinator Cindy Flye provided an overview of Maranacook’s Student Health Center and general information about school-based health centers and the role they play in supporting student success and achievement. They shared how Maranacook’s Student Health Center has evolved over the past 16 years; how acute medical services and behavioral health services are funded; and the benefits of a SBHC.

The informational packet provided to the participants included the Academic Outcome fact sheet from the National Assembly on School-based Health Care – an excellent resource if you need a brief one pager to share with your school administrators and/or school board. (PDF on the Download Page)

Submitted by: Cindy Flye, SBHC Coordinator, Maranacook and President of the Maine Assembly

According to Ricki Waltz, the Director of Health Center, “We see many students who might benefit from counseling. This is a tough age for kids and struggles are commonplace. The ability to get help right here at the school, in a confidential and comfortable setting, reduces barriers that might other-wise preclude participation, such as the lack of health insurance. The on-site service allows collaboration with teachers, guidance counselors, and medical staff, creating a better opportunity for overall progress and positive change.”

Because of United Way support to the health center, students can access mental health services at school. As a result of the counseling program, and Emily’s commitment to the process, communication and support at home has improved and there is less conflict.

See the Full Report of the Mid Coast United Way: Mid Coast United Way 2008 Annual Report