School Health
School Health fosters the growth, development and educational achievement
of Missouri's students by:
- Promoting their health and well being.
- Monitoring health status in order to identify and address
the unmet needs of students, families and school personnel.
- Building public and private partnerships to ensure quality
services that are effective, culturally appropriate, and responsive to the
diverse, changing needs of students and their communities.
- Collaborating with other disciplines, programs and agencies
to integrate and improve services, develop policies, and provide information
about health issues and needs.
All strategies, activities, and services offered by, in, or in association
with schools that are designed to promote students' physical, emotional,
and social development make up a school health program.
When schools work with students, their families and their community to
provide these strategies, activities and services in a coordinated, planned
way, then we use the term coordinated school health program.
Ideally, a coordinated school health program includes several, if not all
of the following:
- A healthful environment,
- Nursing and other health services that students need to stay
in school,
- Nutritious and appealing school meals,
- Opportunities for physical activity that include physical education,
- Health education that covers a range of developmentally appropriate
topics taught by knowledgeable teachers,
- Programs that promote the health of school faculty and staff,
and
- Counseling, psychological and social services that promotes
healthy social and emotional development and remove barriers
to students' learning.
The Department of Health and Senior Services awards contracts to public
school districts and/or local public health departments for school-nursing
services based upon need. Need is defined by the nurse to student ratio
and poverty. The intent of the program is to assure that all school-age
children in public schools have access to health care and management of
health related barriers to learning. The contracts are outcome-based and
measure the success of school districts in developing systems to address
access to medical and dental care, identification and remediation of children
with potential vision or hearing deficits, and managing children with special
health needs such as asthma, diabetes, or seizures.
The School Health Services program is committed to supporting public school
districts and nonpublic schools in providing all school-age children with
access to a school health service program that is:
- Community-based
- Integrated within and supportive of the educational system
- Managed by a registered professional nurse
- Advised by a school and community group, including parents
and students
- Based on accepted standards, regulations and statutes
- Supported by a health service system offering a range of prevention
and treatment services, including tobacco control
- Culturally competent and linguistically relevant
- Coordinated with the eight components of a comprehensive school
health program, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention: health education, health services, social and
physical environment, physical education, guidance and support
services, food service, school and work-site health promotion,
and integrated school and community health promotion
- Linked with community primary care, mental health and dental
health providers, local youth and family serving agencies, local
and state public health and emergency providers, and public insurance
outreach programs
- Evaluated regularly to determine its effectiveness and efficiency
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