It’s called a School-Based Health Center (SBHC), and they’re designed to help students who don’t have access to a family doctor or whose families have little or no health insurance.
Family Centers, a nonprofit organization that provides health, education and human services to families in Fairfield County, will operate the center. They have over 30 years of experience operating SBHCs, and this will be their ninth center serving middle and high schools in Stamford and Greenwich.
The new clinic is scheduled to open at Turn of River Middle School in September. School district leaders say students will be able to get primary care, mental health services, health education, and even dental care — all at no cost.
Dennis Torres is the Chief Health Officer for Family Centers. He said it can be hard to get mental health care.
“It sometimes can feel like a maze for parents if they've never had to deal with the health mental health systems that exist,” Torres said. “So we do what we can to take the mystery out of it, take any kind of barriers that might exist for people to access, and provide it to them.”
Physician assistants, nurse practitioners, dentists, licensed social workers and mental health clinicians will be part of the staff, along with other specialists such as psychiatrists, dietitians, and a doctor of medicine (MD) who cycle through the clinics as needed.
Torres said it’ll be good for parents who may not have the leeway to leave work.
“We have a hard time getting parents to come in during the day,” Torres said. “Take their kids to the doctor, bring them back to school, and go back to work. So the convenience of a health center for parents is really what helps.”
Staff can diagnose, treat, and prescribe medications to students, unlike a regular nurse’s office, which mainly manages medical records and can only administer medications already prescribed with parental permission.
Torres said they had over 4,000 visits at all their sites last year.
“It's going to help the school, it's going to help families, and it's going to help the community manage the healthcare and mental healthcare needs of our young people,” Torres said.
