The Community Health Worker (CHW) program has been working with The Health Collaborative of the Dan River Region, Piedmont Access to Health Services, and Danville, Pittsylvania County and Caswell County school systems to explore and drive the creation of school-based health clinics for the region.
School-Based Health Center team members from Pittsylvania County Schools, PATHS Community Medical Center and The Health Collaborative attend the 2019 School-Based Health Alliance annual conference in Washington, D.C.
The group enlisted the help of consulting firm 330 Partners to provide data, develop design strategy, and link them to helpful resources and other localities who have successfully launched similar programs. Further, the group has toured other communities, such as Cincinnati, Ohio, and several counties in North Carolina, who have implemented similar models, to learn best practices.
As a result of two years of collaboration and strategic oversight, the program is seeing significant progress. “After performing in-depth research and due diligence, it was determined that school-based clinics would be the most effective way to meet the need of improving access to healthcare for our clientele and economic situation,” said Amanda Young, CHW Project Manager.
When studying the Pittsylvania County Schools system, the team explored the largest needs for healthcare access in the district and determined them to be in the Dan River and Gretna communities. Due to the distance between these two areas and to better leverage funds, a mobile clinic concept was selected. The mobile clinic will consist of a large bus that includes two exam rooms for medical and dental assistance, two behavioral health rooms and one on-site lab.
The Caswell County Schools system is currently considering ideal solutions to implement once construction is complete at Bartlett Yancey High School, which will most likely be the site of the clinic for that school district. Danville Public Schools is also looking into the best solutions for their district.
The program’s next steps include applying for grant funding to support the clinics in all three areas. Partners hope the clinics will be operational by 2021.
