School-based health care offers opportunity and promise.

After a competitive process, Nemours Children’s was selected to help the Colonial School District in New Castle County, Delaware, establish school-based health centers in eight elementary schools. The center leverages a multidisciplinary model, staffed by Nemours Children’s professionals such as nurse practitioners, LPNs, psychologists and behavioral health therapists, so it can offer a range of services to K-5 students at no charge.

The centers represent an effort to reduce barriers to preventive care and serve as an extension of students’ existing primary care provider relationships. Families living in the district often face language, transportation and other disparate barriers to care. These centers offer the availability of critical and convenient services — physicals, immunizations, lab tests and mental health counseling — supporting families and community providers by closing gaps in care and reducing the time students miss school.

The school centers are connected to our electronic medical record which provides a secure way to share the child’s visit summary with parents and the child’s community provider. Parents who cannot attend a visit in person can also connect to the appointment through our telehealth platform.

“Nemours Children’s has been a thorough partner — one that our families trust — and we appreciate the sensitivity, respect and care with which they have approached this relationship and our students.”

Jon Cooper, EdD, Director of Health & Wellness
Colonial School District