Ohio invests $26 million in school health centers

When children are struggling to learn how to read, the solution is sometimes their first pair of eyeglasses rather than an academic intervention.

• But with students learning online and routine wellness care on the backburner for many families, the pandemic has left some students slipping through the cracks.

Driving the news: Ohio will allocate nearly $26 million to establishing and enhancing school-based health centers statewide using American Rescue Plan Act funds, a first-of-its-kind investment for the state.

• Nationwide Children’s Hospital is planning on opening a vision center in a Reynoldsburg high school using some of the money — just one example of how area health care providers are bringing services closer to kids.

Why it matters: Unaddressed health issues negatively impact a child’s ability to focus and succeed in school.

What they’re saying: “Being back in person makes recognizing those needs a lot easier,” Reynoldsburg assistant superintendent David Baker tells Axios. “To have this center available to families will help close some of those achievement gaps down the road.”

How it works: Typically in converted classrooms, health care workers conveniently offer students anything a primary care doctor does, from screenings to vaccination. Some also offer dental and vision care.

• Schools can coordinate travel between buildings, helping families overcome transportation barriers and busy schedules.

By the numbers: Central Ohio providers will receive about $7.75 million from the state — $4.35 million to PrimaryOne Health, $3.25 million to Nationwide Children’s Hospital and $150,000 to Whitehall’s Heart of Ohio Family Health Center.

Zoom in: Reynoldburg’s vision center will be an expansion to an existing primary care center, one of 14 Nationwide Children’s operates.

• The hospital will also launch a new center for Columbus City Schools students with complex medical needs at Fort Hayes Career Center, senior director of school health services Mary Kay Irwin tells Axios.
• PrimaryOne, meanwhile, will establish its first two centers: one in Columbus’ Global Academy, which serves immigrants and refugees, and one in a Groveport Madison school district bus depot, which CEO Charleta B. Tavares says will be part of a larger-scale community wellness center project.

What’s next: The new facilities are expected to open this time next year, officials say. A timeline for Reynoldsburg’s expansion is still being determined.