Crain’s Health Pulse
10-22-19
Richmond University Medical Center has opened its first school-based health center at Susan E. Wagner High School, where it is offering medical and behavioral health care.
The 1,600-square-foot health center will have a staff of five, including a nurse practitioner, a medical assistant and a licensed mental health counselor. It will be equipped to treat minor illnesses, such as sore throats and flulike symptoms, as well as chronic diseases, such as asthma and diabetes. The nurse practitioner will be able to provide care in emergencies; the mental health clinician can provide counseling and substance-use services. Staten Island had the second-highest rate of overdoses in the five boroughs last year, when 114 people died in drug-related fatalities. Overdoses are more common among the middle-aged, but 6% of those who died citywide last year were ages 15 to 24.
The hospital’s physicians will be available to speak to students about emerging health issues, such as vaping, according to a RUMC spokesman. There were 262 school-based health centers statewide, including 164 located in New York City, as of March. But there are only three on Staten Island: Children’s Aid Society sponsors the center at Curtis High School, and Staten Island University Hospital sponsors clinics at New Dorp High School and Port Richmond High School, according to state Health Department data. Wagner is one of the largest high schools in the borough with more than 3,000 students.
The goal of the health center will be to offer a convenient source of primary preventive care coordinated with students’ doctors, said Paula Caputo, vice president of RUMC’s Richmond Health Network. “We certainly don’t intend to supplant the pediatrician,” she said. “If they have a pediatrician, we would coordinate care with them.” —J.L.
