Dougherty School System initiative featured at ‘Reimagining Education’ conference

ALBANY — The Dougherty County School System’s longstanding partnership with Albany Area Primary Healthcare through the School-based Health Centers initiative was featured as a part of the Georgia Department of Education’s “Reimagining Education” Conference this week.

Superintendent Kenneth Dyer, AAPHC Chief Operating Officer Clifton Bush and Turner Elementary School Principal LaVenice Grace were the chief presenters for a session titled “Implementing Comprehensive Health Services in Schools.”

“This was a great opportunity to showcase how effective partnerships can impact students in real and meaningful ways,” Dyer said. “Since 2013, we’ve had 3,808 site visits by students, families and employees to these school-based health centers. That means students and families are getting medical services that they need to keep them healthy and able to learn.”

The district first partnered with AAPHC in 2013 to launch a medical center at Turner Elementary. Since that time, the two entities have expanded the program to include three additional health centers, a dental center, a vision center and a mental and behavioral health center. Additionally, the centers are available to students throughout the district thanks to a commitment from the district to provide transportation between the centers and the district’s 21 schools.

“We’re extremely grateful for the partnership with AAPHC for our center here at Turner,” Grace said. “Because of the center, students are able to get the services they need if they’re not feeling well, and we’re better able to support students who have chronic health conditions like diabetes. Thanks to the center, our students don’t have to miss as much class time, which improves overall student achievement.”

The centers have been a game-changer for students when it comes to affordable access to health care. Bush, who has been involved with the centers since their inception, points to statistics that show how critical the centers are for overall student health.

“When we opened the vision center at Alice Coachman (Elementary School), the first month we saw more than 200 students who came into the center,” he said. “Of those, we issued 160 prescriptions for glasses for students who didn’t previously have them. That’s a lot of students who could see better thanks to this partnership.”

Moving forward, district officials say they plan to take advantage of AAPHC’s push to obtain Mobile Health Units that can be deployed to schools directly to further reduce the amount of time students are out of class with health-related issues.

Additionally, the district partnered with AAPHC and Albany-based Phoebe Putney Health System to host a COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at Monroe Comprehensive High School and will partner with AAPHC to provide school-required vaccinations to families that need them.

“We are committed to meeting not only the academic needs of our students, but the non-academic needs as well,” Dyer said. “Non-academic barriers, like a lack of access to adequate health care services, can hinder a student’s ability to learn. Thanks to partnerships like those with AAPHC, we’re being intentional about eliminating those barriers so that students have the best opportunities to learn.”

The two-day conference, organized by the Georgia Department of Education’s School Improvement Division, focused on innovations by districts across the state that are on the leading edge of organized educational thinking and strategy.

Special Photo: DCSS