RVNAhealth was recently invited, along with Anne Mead, Director of Family, School and Community Partnerships at Danbury Public Schools, to present to a statewide panel of educators at the Connecticut Department of Education’s “Tuesday Talks” series. Our collaboration was recognized as a statewide model for its ability to remove barriers for families to receiving well-child services upon registering their child to school.
What is the RVNAhealth/Danbury Public Schools Collaboration? Danbury Public Schools continue to see a growth in student registration. The current healthcare system, especially for uninsured students, cannot support the related increased need for required school physicals and immunizations. This imbalance can result in delayed school starts for kids of up to five weeks or more after registering.
To help address this growing issue, RVNAhealth is working with the Danbury Public Schools to host on-site well-child clinics at a Danbury school. As children register for school, they are immediately scheduled for their physical and immunizations at RVNAhealth’s next well-child clinic.
At each of our 2-day clinics, bilingual clinicians provide children with full physicals, exams for vision and hearing, tuberculosis screenings, height and weight assessments, and more. We also schedule kids for follow-up appointments at future clinics so they can complete their vaccination series. An RVNAhealth social worker is also available to help enroll children in HUSKY, the state’s health care system. At the end of appointments, we provide families with resource guides, and full bags of food, toiletries, and other personal care items to take home.
As we look to the future and evolve our well-child offerings, our plans include linking children to an established local physician’s office for future needs, providing more mental health support, and coordinating with other local agencies to connect families to community resources. These programs are made possible through grants and the generosity of our donors. RVNAhealth is proud of our collaboration with the Danbury Public Schools, and we thank our staff, community partners, and donors for supporting this impactful program to benefit many children and families in the community.
