Results are in from year one of Kaiser Permanente’s SBHC start-up and planning grant funding.
It was a year full of focused vision, creative thinking and shared learning as Community Health Association of Spokane and Community Health Care worked in collaboration with Rogers HS (Spokane) and Bethel MS (Bethel) respectively to construct clinics on their campuses and provide primary care services including behavioral health. Both clinics experienced construction delays and school closures yet still found ways to provide a combined 1,340 visits in just a few months through temporary clinics, briefly opened permanent clinics and telehealth. Approximately 50% of the students who received services were Medicaid eligible and nearly 10% were uninsured or unknown insurance. Both clinics were essential in helping to keep students enrolled in school by providing on-site vaccinations as well as providing real-time interventions for students who were emotionally upset or in-crisis. Two of the three planning grantees (Lowell Elementary in Seattle in collaboration with Country Doctor & Odessa Brown) and (Taft-Saghalie STEM school in Federal Way in collaboration with HealthPoint) were also successful in creating cross-system leadership teams who developed a shared vision and business plan to serve their respective school communities. Both projects are prepared to launch new SBHCs in the 2020-21 school year.