

- Rift valley academy student medical insurance for free#
- Rift valley academy student medical insurance free#
“Bottom line, I now regret having voted for this project.”

“There are citizens who feel betrayed by what is happening,” he said. Resident Jay Hosberg, who said he has not had children or grandchildren in the district, said when voters in 2021 overwhelmingly approved a bond to build a new high school it didn’t specify that a school-based health clinic would be part of it. On the other side of the debate were many older residents and some parents who oppose the project. ‘There are citizens who feel betrayed by what is happening.’ On the behavioral health side, it’s been depression, anxiety, stress from home, social anxiety and relationship problems, according to MarillacHealth. Since the clinic opened, the top five medical diagnoses have been sports physicals, acute cough, sore throat, headache and COVID-19 screenings. The impetus for Central’s clinic began in 2017 when the community was rocked by opioid overdoses and several teen suicides.

“As someone who has lost multiple friends and my father by suicide and getting close myself, we need this wellness center. She and other youth noted that Central High has not had a suicide since the clinic came to the school in 2020, which she attributes to the help clinic staff Rosa Gardner and Steven Martinez have given youth. “But other kids have parents who disagree strongly with therapy, and those kids without clinics are unable to go because of needing a ride or payment method,” she said. She said she’s lucky she has a supportive mom. She’s gotten mental health care inside and outside of school. Karami Lyle told the board she knows they come from a different generation but said mental illness is widespread and severe in her generation. Central High School students who testified to the school board in support of a health clinic at Grand Junction High stand with physician’s assistant Rosa Gardner and licensed social worker Steve Martinez in front of Central High School’s Warrior Wellness Center.Ī parade of Central High students went to bat for their Grand Junction High peers at last week’s board meeting. “It is simply a safe place for students to be treated as people for any need they have and to exclude other students from that experience, I believe, is simply unfair." Courtesy of Central High School. “From then on I’ve forever been grateful for the wellness center at Central,” she said. He gave her strategies to help get through the season and through everyday life.

Rift valley academy student medical insurance free#
She saw the free therapist at her school. Central High, another Grand Junction high school, has a clinic. The champion wrestler said at her first match of the season she spent all her time sobbing. “I was unmotivated and at times all I did was cry in my bed for hours,” she told the school board at a recent meeting. Colorado Health Institute Central High School student Kenya Contreras recalls when she sunk into a bad depression last fall. It found stark disparities in urban Colorado, with high need for clinics in Pueblo and Adams counties. It found schools in rural Colorado, particularly the San Luis Valley and southeast Colorado, had relatively limited access to school-based health centers. The report found schools with high numbers of students of color have significant health needs. The Colorado Health Institute published a report in 2021 that identified 50 schools where students struggled with health issues. “The care is high quality, comprehensive, and it’s available regardless of insurance or ability to pay.” “Parents can take less time off work, and students don’t have to take as much time from the class to be able to access health care because it’s right there at the school,” said Aubrey Hill, executive director of the Youth Healthcare Alliance. Other research has shown that school-based health clinics can reduce student hospitalizations, emergency department visits and overall health care costs. Multiple national studies show higher grades and graduation rates for students who have access to school-based clinics, while absenteeism goes down.
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More than 40 percent of Grand Junction High’s students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and a third are students of color. They often serve underserved children and youth who have limited access to health care. They offer students wellness checks, sports exams, strep tests, care for chronic conditions like diabetes, mental and sexual health care – and some offer dental screenings. Colorado has 70, eight of them on the Western Slope, according to Youth Healthcare Alliance, formerly the Colorado Association for School-Based Health Care. They are health care clinics located inside a school or on school grounds operated by a healthcare provider.
