Nemours, Life Health Center partner with Colonial to open elementary school wellness center

Five-year-old Bailey Gibbs loves visiting Eisenberg Elementary School's brand-new student wellness center, with its eggshell-blue walls, hand-painted portraits and friendly staff. 

"They are so nice," the kindergartner's mom, Ne'kyhzia Gibbs, said. "They're passionate. You can tell they love what they do, and they're easygoing with kids. Bailey loves them." 

Ne'kyhzia also loves the wellness center, which is the first of its kind in Delaware and officially opened Thursday. For the hardworking mom of two, the fact that it's located in her daughter's school is perfect. 

If Bailey isn't feeling well, Ne'kyhzia doesn't have to worry about taking off work, picking her up and driving her to a pediatrician's office. Instead, Bailey can just head down the hall, talk to the registered nurse and get treated. If she's not too sick, the kindergartener can go right back to class and continue learning. 

"It means a lot to us," Ne'kyhzia Gibbs said. "Sometimes I just can't get to her doctor's office." 

There are few, if any, pediatricians on the Del. 9 corridor in New Castle, Colonial School District Superintendent Dusty Blakey said. That's a reality the school has long been faced with. 

"We knew this community was a health desert," he said. "It's a food desert, and it's an economic desert." 

Children were frequently absent or would miss part of the school day because they were sick or unhealthy. Their grades suffered as a result. 

The center offers health care otherwise not provided by the school nurse, including, among other things, diagnosis and treatment of acute medical conditions, prescribing and dispensing medications, and immunizations. 

It also provides behavioral and mental health services. 

There are two mental health therapists and a licensed clinical social worker, as well as a bilingual medical assistant, an important asset at a school where about 20 percent of students are English language learners. 

Services are provided by the Life Health Center in partnership with Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children. The center is free and helps families without insurance either apply for Medicaid or affordable health benefits. 

"The big thing is access," said Forrest Watson, director of school-based wellness for Life Health Center. "This is only here because of a need in the community."  

Last year, about 55 percent of students either did not have a primary doctor or did not go to the doctor regularly, according to Life Health Center, which has been providing limited services at the school for about three years now. 

Before Life Health Center began providing mental health and social services, school staff were making more than 1,000 behavioral referrals a year, writing students up for acting out or being disruptive. 

Now, there are only 100 such referrals a year, with kids being taught how to manage their emotions and deal with trauma and stress. 

"I encounter children where trauma has occurred, or grief and loss issues," clinical supervisor and therapist Shariyfa Rose said. She uses play therapy to help children develop positive self-expression in elementary school rather than in middle and high school, when it's tougher to master. 

"I would never say it's too late, but it is very difficult to then help them grow because they have those belief systems that I express myself in a violent or external way," she said. 

Watson said Life Health Center has been working with Colonial School District for four years now to open a wellness center. Various regulatory issues have delayed the process. 

The district is still working with the state's public health department and insurance commissioner to make sure services provided at the wellness center are reimbursable, Blakey said. They are also exploring the option of opening the clinic up to the other nearby Colonial School District schools. There are five within a three-mile radius of Eisenberg, Blakey said. 

Remodeling one of the school's classrooms into a miniature clinic cost about $500,000, the district's CFO Emily Falcon said. Colonial contracts with Life Health Center for about $85,000 a year, though that does not completely cover the cost of the services provided. 

Of the schools 487 students, about 440 have signed up for the wellness center, Eisenberg Principal David Distler said. Parents have to fill out forms giving the center permission to treat their children and providing their medical history. 

To ensure children's safety, parents are always informed before their children are treated or examined and there are always at least two adults in the room, Watson said. Parents also have the option of observing the exam themselves and participating via video chat. 

Blakey said while Delaware does already have high school wellness centers, they aren't particularly innovative, because many teens don't see the value in medical care. You have to build that earlier, by getting kids invested in their own health and growth, he said.

That's another reason why the district ultimately pursued the goal of opening the first elementary school wellness center in the state. 

"We're willing to go out and do something that has never been done before because it's for kids," Blakey said. "And kids can't wait." 

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.

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