As Cincinnati Public Schools announced their plan for Community Learning Centers, with health services identified as a priority through the Cincinnati Public School (CPS) community engagement, it became apparent that health care providers in the community would need to meet to discuss how their services would be integrated with the schools and the Community Learning Center Initiative.   CPS initiated a process for this forum at the Health Improvement Collaborative.  Numerous health care partners were invited including a number of community health care organizations who are currently providing primary health services to Cincinnati Public Schools within individual schools.

The Cincinnati School Health Collaborative, initially called the Health in Schools Group, and now officially Growing Well Cincinnati, was the result of initial efforts to design an infrastructure and process for meeting the broad health care needs of students within the Cincinnati Public School District.  There were many questions and concerns about the effort and the impact it would have on current community health services, as well as whether the process would be able to result in an effective infrastructure.

From this process, a smaller group of the current primary health care providers met to determine how to create an infrastructure, recognizing that in order to develop a system of care for children in CPS that a sound primary care collaborative needs to be established.  The Primary Care Group (PCG) includes the safety net of primary medical and dental health care providers for children in the Cincinnati Public School system.   This group includes representatives from the Cincinnati Health Department, the Greater Cincinnati Oral Health Council, the Cincinnati Public Schools, Neighborhood Health Care, Inc., Winton Hills Medical Center, West End Health Center, Crossroads Health Center, the Babies Milk Fund Clinics, and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.  It was felt that someone independent of the involved health organizations and Cincinnati Public Schools and knowledgeable about the creation and implementation of business plans would need to implement the plan.

As no single organization has funding to support these key positions and the planning and initial implementation process, the decision was made to seek out grant support to engage in strategic planning for the development of a financially sustainable infrastructure.  The Collaborative applied for a planning grant through  The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati (HFGC).  The Health Foundation has been instrumental in the promotion of school based and school linked health care programs, as well as health care access for children and adults, and has traditionally funded planning grants for innovative health programs that benefit the community.  The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati receives the grant monies and provides oversight for distribution of funds. The Project Facilitator was hired with accountability for execution of the planned work as a joint responsibility of the Health Coordination Committee, the Project Facilitator, and the Director. The Director, is employed by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati until an infrastructure exists that allows the employment of this individual.  The decision to have the HFGC serve as the grant recipient is grounded in the firm belief of the PCG that having a neutral party hire the facilitator is critical to the success of the process.

Funding from The Health Foundation

• School Nurses - There are 39 Cincinnati Health Department nurses in all elementary schools except Roselawn Condon
  • Roselawn Condon - Has a special needs nurse funded by Cincinnati Public Schools
• Mental Health Services funded by multiple providers
• Dental Services -
  • Referrals to Dental Health Clinics
  • Crest Smile Shoppe
  • Dental Services at FQHCs
  • Dental Van
  • Sealants
  • Oral Health Instruction

Existing School-Based Health Centers

• Neighborhood Health Center, Inc. and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center partnership at four sites
  • Taft
  • Burton
  • South Avondale
  • Rockdale

Children First Council for the Children First Initiative

• Aiken High School
• Schwab
• Gamble
• Rothenberg
• Quebec Heights

School-Linked Health Services

• Winton Hills Academy services provided by WinMed Health Center
• Hays/Porter/Washburne, and Heberle services provided by West End Health Center

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