$2M boosts New Orleans’ school-based health centers

With this weekend marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans’ comeback battle has been in the national spotlight. On the healthcare front, efforts to improve access to primary care for those underserved has been a major focus, especially as the greater New Orleans area experienced a sharp decrease in primary care physicians in Katrina’s aftermath. Further compounding the problem, Charity Hospital — the primary access point to healthcare for the uninsured — closed permanently after being hit by severe flooding during the disaster. One way the city has been addressing this care delivery gap is by investing in a community-based primary care delivery model — with health centers based inside schools an integral part of this model. Today, the GE Foundation, which is the company’s philanthropic arm, announced a $2 million grant to the Louisiana Public Health Institute as part of GE’s Developing Health program. The funds will underwrite the work led by School Health Connection — a partnership formed after Katrina by local and state governments, universities, hospitals and others — in Orleans Parish, LA.

Back to school: Developing Health is a 3-year, $25 million, GE program that aims to improve access to primary care in targeted underserved communities across the U.S. The grant announced today will be used to grow enrollment in New Orleans’ school-based health centers and extend those health services to neighboring schools, family members and nearby residents. From left to right at today’s ceremony in New Orleans were Keith Singleton, Kyla Davis, Ronesha Turner and Felica Ennis — all Students at Walter J. Cohen High School.

The idea behind school-based health centers is that they can provide easy access to services for kids who frequently delay treatments or commonly seek emergency room care. With 38,000 students across Orleans Parish alone — with many not having adequate insurance — this grant has the potential to give thousands of students improved access to primary healthcare services.

As the School Health Connection team notes on their website, the health centers are basically doctor’s offices or health clinics located on a school campus and the resulting healthcare services “far exceed what is possible in the typical school nurse program and includes preventive care, comprehensive primary care including acute diagnosis and behavioral health care services.”

For example, the program cites success stories, such as helping students already diagnosed with high blood pressure or diabetes; providing mental health services and substance abuse help for teens who otherwise might not access them; and preventative care, such as the discovery during one sports physical that a 14-year-old student had a previously undiagnosed congenital heart condition.

Healthy attitude: New Orleans is the fifth city after New York, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Louisville to be awarded donations in the program. At today’s ceremony, from left to right, were: State Representative Walt Leger; State Senator Karen Carter-Peterson; Joe Kimbrell, CEO, LPHI; U.S. Congressman Joseph Cao; Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, GE; Alex Hochron, Assistant Vice Principal, Walter J. Cohen High School; Mayor Mitch Landrieu, New Orleans; Susan Moore, Vice Principal, Walter J. Cohen High School; Al Jones, Principal, Walter J. Cohen High School; and Wanda Anderson-Guillaume, CAO, Recovery School District.

Later today in New Orleans, Jeff Immelt will address a Business Connect luncheon hosted by Ochsner Health System — one of GE’s longtime partners in the area and the subject of our profile yesterday. Among the points he’ll be making about the healthcare space is the need for more “community-wide education on wellness and prevention” — just like in the New Orleans Developing Health project. With Louisiana one of nine states with an obesity prevalence of more than 30 percent, Jeff’s written speech also notes that citizens need “to know more to make smart decisions” for their family’s health and “we need to ensure people get access to the information they need, and that begins with community-wide education programs.” And in the area of hospital efficiency, his written speech urges hospitals around the country to take a page from the work being done at Ochsner and install “industrial quality and process improvement practices” — and metrics to track progress — to “help hospitals ensure that they can operate as efficiently as any business.”

Road work: Ochsner Health System is also extremely active in the region working on preventative care for kids, such as with its I Can Do It! childhood obesity initiative, which includes a customized mobile fitness unit, pictured above. It travels to different at-risk communities and features equipment for strength and cardiovascular workouts, nutrition lectures, and heart-healthy cooking classes.

* Read today’s Developing Health announcement
* Learn about the National Assembly on School-Based Care
* Download a January 2010 study made on Louisiana’s School-Based Health Centers
* Learn more about Developing Health Globally
* Learn more about Developing Health
* Learn more about School Health Connection
* Read about Ochsner’s work to support health initiatives in Jefferson Parrish

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Hurricane hero: Ochsner Health five years after Katrina”
* “Milwaukee clinics upping access with new grants”
* “Developing Health: A clinic grows in Brooklyn”
* “Taking hip-hop health education to Harlem’s Apollo”