New county health program benefitting students

In a time when school districts are dealing with loss of state revenues and cutting staff, the Pinal County Public Health Services District is providing a valuable service to students and administrators.

The School Health Liaison Program is a unique program that provides core public health functions to schools with limited resources. Still in its infancy, this program has made a difference in the lives of many students from elementary to high school. The program is funded by the Public Health District and the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Six liaisons cover 30 schools in Pinal County as well as the Youth Justice Center.  These liaisons work with administrators to determine health education priorities based upon the public health needs of the school. This means there is no “one size fits all” method to the program. The freedom of school administrators to choose the services they receive has made the school health liaison program a valuable tool for everyone involved.

Administrators choose five schools within their district they feel are in the most need of the services provided by the liaison. 

“We ask schools to determine their public health needs,” said program director Jan Vidimos.  “Our liaisons can provide services from referrals to classroom presentations. We are not there to replace school nurse by any means. We think of ourselves as true partners with the schools.”

The numbers of services provided to the schools and the students has been impressive for a six member staff. From July 2009 to February 2010 the school health liaisons have provided these services:

– Hygiene education to 5,536 students in 21 schools
– Dental hygiene education to 1,905 students in 11 schools
– Nutrition education to 841 students in 7 schools
– Tobacco use prevention education to 184 students in 3 schools
– Various health education classes to 214 students at the Youth Justice Center
– Help to coordinate services so 522 high risk students at 22 schools could receive their first dose of H1N1 immunization at a school-based clinic

Other educational classes and presentations were provided by the School Health Liaison Program to an additional 7,705 students, school staff, parents, county employees and county citizens

“There are some services we cannot provide, but we do our best to find referrals for specialty areas such as mental health issues,” Vidimos said. “We simply do not want to jump out of our areas of expertise.”

The impact of the School Health Liaison Program was evident in the fall of 2009 when the H1N1 influenza began to hit the nation. 

“Our ability to create meaningful relationships with school administrators made a huge difference in the early stages of the outbreak,” Vidimos said. “We were able to meet with staff and students to inform them about this new strain and create a system to obtain updated information throughout the outbreak. Within three days, our staff met with superintendents from every public, private, alternative, charter, correctional and secondary school district in the county. Our liaisons played a key role in helping to blunt the potential effects of this outbreak.”

One byproduct of the School Health Liaison Program has been a noticeable increase in children receiving the required immunizations. 

Last year, students at Casa Grande Middle School were falling behind a new sixth grade immunization requirement.  School Health Liaisons played a vital role in providing clinic staff with information about the number of immunizations students needed and informing school nurses about Public Health clinic hours.  The result was a dramatic increase in the number of students who received their required immunizations.  A 99 percent immunization rate was achieved at Casa Grande Middle School.

“Overall, we have received a very positive response from both the administrators and the students,” Vidimos said.  “I think it speaks well for this program that the school health liaisons are welcomed so warmly at the schools we serve.  That shows us that we are making an impact.  Our liaisons are proud of the work they do and proud of the fact that they are making such a positive impact on the lives of students.”