Eva Stone, Opinion contributor Published 7:17 a.m. ET Nov. 26, 2019
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As a school nurse of 17 years, I have proudly served the 2,600 students of Boyle County Public Schools and the nearly 4,000 students of Lincoln County Public Schools. Now, I proudly serve as the manager of District Health Services for Kentucky’s largest school district, with more than 100,000 students, Jefferson County Public Schools.
While rural and urban school districts frequently have different challenges and resources at their disposal, one commonality holds true regardless of geography — schools and students benefit when the education system prioritizes student health. When children are in good health, they can focus better in class and are less likely to miss school. Since schools often depend on funds tied to average daily attendance figures, fewer student absences benefits school budgets.
The new Kentucky KIDS COUNT “County Data Book,” recently released by Kentucky Youth Advocates, shows us too many students across the state are not receiving preventive health checks, which can identify early on any health issues that can interfere with learning.
For example, there are three health checks all kindergartners must receive — a preventive health exam, a dental screening and a vision screening — yet Kentucky is far from having 100% of enrolled kindergartners receiving these mandatory assessments. Our state also has too few students who are up-to-date on vaccinations needed to protect not only their own health, but to also prevent disease from spreading throughout their community.
The good news is that Kentucky has a new tool at our disposal for schools to focus on student health and increase access to needed health services. With the recent amendment to the state Medicaid plan, school districts now have the opportunity to expand upon health services already offered to students in schools by leveraging federal Medicaid dollars. By enabling schools to bill for services to all Medicaid-eligible students, schools can help address student health care needs and keep students learning.
This opportunity, called Free Care, creates a sustainable funding source to hire much-needed, qualified health professionals to meet the school-based health provider requirement of 2019’s Senate Bill 1, the School Safety and Resiliency Act. I hope that every school district across Kentucky takes advantage of this opportunity to hire school nurses to meet the nationally recommended standard of one nurse for every 750 healthy students. As it is now, 54 school districts are reported as having no school nurses at all.
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School nurses can provide health services such as screenings and vaccinations and play a critical role in helping the remaining 4% of Kentucky kids eligible for Medicaid or the Kentucky Children’s Health Insurance Program (KCHIP) get enrolled in health coverage. Also, with high rates of childhood obesity — 1 in every 5 high school students in Kentucky is obese — we need more qualified health professionals promoting a culture of health in our schools.
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Districts that don’t hire their own health professionals can still take advantage of the Free Care opportunity by partnering with local providers, such as health departments, Federal Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and community mental health centers, for face-to-face and telehealth services.
Whether we’re talking about students in Bullitt County or Louisville or Boone County or Paducah, we know that kids can thrive when they are healthy and safe. I’ve seen the positive impacts of school-based services firsthand — from getting a child a dental checkup for the first time to addressing a terrible toothache to connecting a student struggling with depression with a behavioral health professional to teaching students the importance of healthy eating habits.
Our kids are counting on us to help them grow up healthy and hopeful.
Eva Stone is the manager of District Health Services for Jefferson County Public Schools. View the 2019 KIDS COUNT County Data Book at https://kyyouth.org/kentucky-kids-count/.
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