The success of Oregon's children and youth requires public policies that meet at the crossroad of health and education and address the disparities kids experience at home, school and in their communities.
Education
At the Oregon School Based Health Care Network, we want to see alignment of education and health policy--Why? Because we all know that students perform better when they show up for class healthy and ready to learn. Poor academic outcomes and high dropout rates are major concerns of educators, policy makers, and parents alike – and poor health severely limits a child's motivation and ability to learn. Recent research confirms that health disparities affect educational achievement. Improving students health is integral to education reform.
Why School-Based Health Centers?
SBHCs are the convergence of public health, primary care, and mental health; provide an optimal setting to foster learning readiness and academic achievement while giving children the resources they need to improve their health.
See our Fact Sheet: Education Outcomes, Academic Success and the SBHC (developed with NASBHC).
Health
We live in a constant state of change when it comes to health care. Coordinated Care Organizations, Health Insurance Exchange, Co-Ops, Patient Centered Primary Care Homes are all the rage as we enter the 2012-13 school year. And what does all this mean for kids?
Our aim is to ensure that all these systems seamlessly support better health of students. We are doing this by bringing people together to learn from and with each other, building partnerships to move advocacy forward, introducing policy changes and pursuing all possible avenues of systems improvement. We believe the success of our work, in conjunction with students, SBHC supporters and other advocates has and will continue to bring awareness to the movement for health care where the kids are.
Building Success in the Legislative Session
We are preparing for the 2013 and have secured sponsorship for two legislative concepts that we hope will be adopted as bills.
- We are calling for reliable, predictable and permanent resources to fund SBHC state grants.
- We are asking for parity in state grant funding.
- We are requesting $2.8 million in funds to pay for parity and the expansion of SBHCs in 10 new locations.
The Network is committed to educating and engaging local, state and federal decision makers on the importance of providing school-based health care and related issues. Each session we bring youth and adult advocates to Salem to meet with policymakers and rally for support. YOU CAN JOIN US! See what some of our advocacy activities and other events look like in our Photo Gallery.
