Shared from Community Roots Housing:
The Capitol Hill EcoDistrict is working in partnership with Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic and Country Doctor Community Health Center to bring a school-based health center (SBHC) to Lowell Elementary School in Seattle.
Lowell Elementary School is located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle and is the assigned elementary school for all downtown homeless shelters. The disproportionately high population of homeless and low-income students is faced with many hardships, including a lack of access to health care.
Sarah Talbot, principal of Lowell, has been instrumental in leading the efforts to establish a school-based health center. “The students who come to Lowell are often pretty impacted by poverty. They often have experienced trauma, and they’re historically coming from families who have not been well served by schools. So it’s very important for us to be warm and welcoming, focused on the social emotional well-being of our students and to connect with the community organizations around us to help us meet the needs of families.”
The school-based health center at Lowell would provide affordable, conveniently located, and easy-to-access health care services for students and their families, as well as for school staff members, thus bridging the gap for families who do not consistently have access to care.
“We see ourselves as a place that can be a connector, a hub of connections for families,” Sarah said. “We can’t provide families with health care, but we can connect them to someone who can. And the school-based health center is about that.” Read more.