SCHOOL: Collaboration keeps kids on proper path - Health care

Photo by Patrick Dove

Patrick Dove/Standard-Times Angelo State University nursing student Shontrice Ward pulls a patient fill while working at the San Jacinto School Health Clinic and Family Wellness Center in San Angelo. The clinic is a collaborative effort of ASU?s College of Health and Human Services and the San Angelo Independent School District that provides behavioral health services for children from birth to 18 years old. shot/archived 8.17.12

Photo by Patrick Dove

Patrick Dove/Standard-Times Staff members of the San Jacinto School Health Clinic and Family Wellness Center go through their workday at the local San Angelo clinic. The facilityprovides behavioral health services for children from birth to 18 years old.

What: San Jacinto School Health Clinic and Family Wellness Center

Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Where: 902 Spaulding St.

Services: Individual psychotherapy, family therapy, testing and counseling.

Who can go: Any child from birth to 18 years old, regardless of ability to pay

Phone: 325-942-2178

Fax: 325-942-2179

After-hours phone: 325-657-7108

SAN ANGELO, Texas ? As expensive as health care is today, it is no surprise that many families cannot afford health insurance.

San Jacinto School Health Clinic and Family Wellness Center ? a collaborative effort of Angelo State University?s College of Health and Human Services and the San Angelo Independent School District ? provides behavioral health services for children from birth to 18 years old regardless of the families? ability to pay.

It began in 1994 as a clinic providing primary health care but has recently transitioned to behavioral health.

Today the clinic?s services include testing, individual psychotherapy, child and adolescent counseling, and family therapy. The clinic also is expanding its services to parenting and substance abuse groups.

At its conception, Dr. Leslie Mayrand, dean of what was formerly known as the department of nursing at ASU, wrote a grant proposal for a school-based clinic. ?At the time, 85 percent of children in the San Jacinto community had no medical home,? Mayrand said. She partnered with Linda Ferguson-Bender, faculty coordinator, who was ?instrumental to the program,? Mayrand said.

?It was an excellent service to our community as well as an opportunity for our nursing students,? Mayrand said. She said it helped increase the focus on school nursing.

Now, responding to a gap in care, the clinic has shifted to focusing on behavioral health.

?There is not any growth for mental health care in children and adolescents in this area,? Mayrand said. The clinic recently hired Bill Erving, licensed professional counselor, who has been practicing for 25 years and has had experience conducting court and custody evaluations.

In addition, the Texas Department of State Health Services recently awarded ASU?s College of Health and Human Services a $75,000 grant. The grant will go toward hiring a master?s level social worker for the San Jacinto Health Clinic as well as research on depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

?Our goal is to expand and provide new services that are not available in the community,? said Dr. Scott Storm, clinical psychologist at the clinic.

Storm, 43, was hired about seven years ago to integrate behavioral health into the medical program.

He sees about eight to 10 patients daily, spending an hour or more with each.

The two exam rooms that Storm uses were made to help children feel comfortable. In what he calls ?sand play therapy,? Storm said most children go in and need no instruction. The rooms are full of stimuli such as toy cars, dinosaurs, dollhouses, animal stickers on the walls, basketballs, baseballs and art materials. The children ?express themselves through play, through music, through art,? said Storm. He treats his patients by observing their behavior. ?Sometimes to form an alliance with these kids, we just can?t stay inside,? Storm said.

SAISD Superintendent Carol Ann Bonds said, ?A child may not look physically sick ? we have to be vigilant in trying to help young people ? cope with their world.?

Bonds and Storm commend Mayrand for keeping in operation one of the few remaining school-based clinics in the state ? and even in the nation. Storm said Mayrand has fought hard ?to weather the economy and changes in health care to help this place stay open.?

The San Angelo Health Foundation has helped fund the clinic, along with numerous other health needs. The foundation ?is a real pillar to this community. ? They seem to always be there for everybody,? Storm said.

Bonds says the symbiotic relationship between ASU?s College of Allied Health and SAISD has been ?a marvelous partnership.? Mayrand agrees that the relationship has been the key to the clinic?s success through the years.

Now the clinic is focusing on behavioral health services, which Storm has seen become more necessary with the progression of the gradual breakdown of the nuclear family. ?For a while it was single moms bringing in the kids, then it was grannies. ? Now a lot of them are brought in by the state ? kids come in shackled and in orange jumpsuits,? he said.

Mayrand is aiming to shift their health care to focus more on prevention of behavioral problems.

Storm said the clinic?s main goal is to fill gaps in mental health care for the community. ?We?re not trying to compete with anybody, but trying to nurture a collaboration. ? We do our best to consult with local pediatricians,? he said.

Source: http://healthcaye.com/back-to-school-collaboration-keeps-kids-on-proper-path/

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