Reynoldsburg City Schools’ leadership finalized a partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The primary goal of the partnership is to decrease the gap in access to health care for children. The partnership strives to enhance the health and wellness of children and adolescents, improve students’ health promotion and access to care, and improve academic outcomes. The initial stage of the partnership will include the following services:
1. School-based
health clinic space at Reynoldsburg High School’s Livingston Campus, which
previously housed Mt. Carmel Medical Group. The school-based health clinic will
be accessible to all District students during the daily hours of operation. The
clinic serves as an access point to establish or re-connect a child to their
medical home. The
services provided are not meant to replace a pediatrician or family doctor.
When a student has any medical need, parents should first call their
pediatrician.
2. Behavioral
Health services which will be integrated into the school-based health clinic
and will also occur at some other Reynoldsburg City Schools’ buildings
beginning in the 2020-21 school year. Services will include therapy in the
school and in the home for students and families and psychiatric consultation
when indicated.
3. As part of a longstanding partnership with
Reynoldsburg City Schools, Nationwide Children’s Sports Medicine will continue
to deliver specialized care to children in the community. The new services
build upon 15 years of services Sports Medicine has provide to the community
and is incorporated into these comprehensive health services to all
Reynoldsburg student athletes and families.On Tuesday, during the June
Regular Board of Education Meeting, District leaders asked the Board to take action
on approving and finalizing the partnership.
“It is crucial that
Reynoldsburg City Schools forges these types of relationships with business
partners in our community,” said Melvin J. Brown, superintendent, Reynoldsburg
City Schools. “Access to health care, especially during times of a pandemic is
crucial.”
“Offering our services in the community and in schools provides a unique access to care for children and adolescents who previously were not receiving routine healthcare,” said Mary Kay Irwin, EdD, director of School Health Services at Nationwide Children's. “Because we know healthy students make better learners, we strive to improve critical health outcomes, while improving student attendance and decreasing rates of discipline. It will be very beneficial to have the
unique combination of school based primary care, behavioral health and sports
medicine services working together to deliver best outcomes for Reynoldsburg
families.”
In
addition, Nationwide Children’s brings their Mobile Care Center to
Reynoldsburg, Ohio to offer medical services to children for pediatric primary
care services. The Mobile Care Center will visit two locations in Reynoldsburg
on Mondays from 8am-3pm. The Mobile Care Center will alternate between
Postwoods Apartments and Big Lots to coordinate with the wifi hotspot RCS
buses. The unit is staffed with a nurse practitioner who can help provide
families with routine well-child checkups, assessment of common ailments (sore
throat, bad cold, earache, headache), immunization shots, blood work, medication
orders from the pharmacy, asthma consultations, referral to specialist, and reconnect
children to a medical home.
Finally,
Nationwide Children’s will also partner with Reynoldsburg City Schools’ nurses
to maintain specialized care for students with asthma through their
School-Based Asthma Therapy program as well as partner with staff and community
leaders to offer evidence-based health education programming and services. A
primary goal of this comprehensive school health partnership and focus on the
reduction of non-academic barriers to learning is to ensure that the students
of RCS reach their fullest potential.