Dear Friends,

The summer went quickly and schools started the year open and ready for students.

As you know, last May PSBHA was awarded a $2.85 million health equity grant to expand mental health services provided in PA SBHCs. With the new school year underway, we are excited to be able to track our progress and provide quantifiable data on the impact that SBHCs make in children’s lives with the School-Based Health Center Data Hub launched with this grant.

This past month, Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of Health Dr. Denise Johnson toured the Girard High School SBHC with Craig Ulmer, Community Net’s Director. Also this month, Family First in York Pennsylvania celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Hannah Penn School-Based Health Center. That’s right, 25 years of serving the school and community making sure the community has access to quality health care. Way to go, Family First! You can find more information below.

Enjoy this edition of our newsletter and we look forward to continuing our work and serving the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable students.

Stay safe and healthy,
Julie Cousler Emig,Executive Director

———————————————

Dr. Denise Johnson Visits Community Health Net’s School-Based Health Center

On Friday September 23rd, Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of Health and Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson visited, toured and spoke with nurses and staff at school-based health center (SBHC) located within Girard High School to highlight the link of health and education in a student’s success. The Girard High School SBHC offers student’s access to health care services right down the hall from where they receive their education, cutting down some barriers to receive care.

“I was extremely impressed to learn about the range of healthcare services that are provided to students right here at school. I saw how the School-Based Health Clinics provide access to quality healthcare that many students would otherwise be missing, “ said Dr. Johnson. “It was great to see that these clinics are aligned with the Department of Health’s focus on improving equity and access to quality healthcare.”

Community Health Net is the preeminent, community-focused healthcare network that advances the wellness of the region, serving the Lake Erie region for over 35 years in seven locations. In 2015, they opened their SBHC at Girard High School.

It was not Dr. Johnson’s first visit to Community Health Net, as she visited during the COVID-19 pandemic, where she discussed the impact of COVID with great elegance. “To have her show her true loyalty to the health of Pennsylvania, Dr. Johnson visited our smallest medical office, Girard High School’s school-based health center,” said Craig Ulmer, CEO at Community Health Net. “Her presence and interest in both the large and small, urban and rural, show she has an exceptional commitment. We are all so very impressed that she would take the time out of her schedule to stop by and show her appreciation in what we do. In all actuality we need to take time out of our schedules and show her how much we appreciate what she does."

As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), their mission is to improve our region’s quality of life by providing professional healthcare services with compassion, respect, and dignity to all. Please visit the website for more information.

———————————————

Family First Health Hannah Penn Center Celebrates 25 Years

On September 28th Family First Health held a joyous event celebrating the Hannah Penn Center's 25th anniversary. For over two decades, the school-based health center (SBHC) has provided pediatric care, routine health exams, preventive care, referrals, integrated behavioral health services, and more to York County students and community members. The Hannah Penn Center opened in 1997 with support from WellSpan Health, the City of York, and the School District of the City of York to make access to health care services easier for students. The staff of health professionals inside Hannah Penn K-8 includes a 24-hour on-call physician, language interpreters, a Health and Wellness Coach, and Community Health Workers who participate year-round in various school and community outreach efforts. Since 2020, the Hannah Penn Center has received funding from The United Health Foundation to enhance its impact.

“The Pennsylvania House of Representatives takes great pleasure in recognizing Family First Health Hannah Penn Center in York and I personally am honored that my Alma Mater is being recognized for its many contributions. I wish them continued success,” said Representative Carol Hill-Evans.

In addition to a citation presented by Representative Hill-Evans, the highlight was a testimonial from Nicole Martinez Holguin, a 7th grader at Hannah Penn K-8. “Having the School-Based Health Center gives me the chance to take ownership of my health,” said Nicole Martinez Holguin. “My dad doesn’t have to leave work to pick me up from school and take me to the doctor. I can see the doctor during my school day by myself. This gives me the confidence to talk about what I need to be healthy.”

Founded in 1970, York Health Corporation, now Family First Health, is a non-profit, federally qualified health center dedicated to providing a broad range of primary health, dental care and social services at its sites on South George Street in York, Columbia, Gettysburg, Hanover, Hannah Penn K-8 School, Lebanon, and Lewisberry. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, Family First Health offers a reduced fee program for the uninsured and accepts most other health insurances. For more information regarding the programs and services offered through Family First Health, please visit the website. Se habla español.

———————————————

Are you Ready for Advocacy Week in February 2023?

We are organizing our fourth advocacy week, which will happen during February, School-Based Health Awareness month. Last year, PSBHA met with Pennsylvania state Senators and Representatives and their staffs and, more importantly, every meeting included regional SBHC staff. There is no question that those meetings with a diverse group of operators and points of view were the key to us winning the Health Equity Grant of $2.85 million for expanding our mental health services. Join us this year as we continue our advocacy efforts for ongoing state support.

———————————————

Calling all SBHCs to Join PSBHA

PSBHA’s mission is to support SBHCs across the state to grow their reach and impact more students. If you know of a SBHC and do not see it listed on our website, please let us know. The more the merrier!

PSBHA spent the first half of 2022 continuing the quest for state support by meeting with elected officials, agency secretaries and members of Governor Wolf’s administration. Here are the highlights.

February 2022- School-Based Health Awareness Month

For the third year, and second during School-Based Health Awareness month, PSBHA met with Pennsylvania state Senators and Representatives and their staffs. More importantly, this year every meeting included regional SBHC staff. During previous advocacy months, only PSBHA staff met with legislators, not necessarily operators from the elected officials’ district. This year was a game changer! The level of participation, local issue knowledge and established relationships was unparalleled and it made a world of difference. We look forward to next year being even bigger and better.

April 2022- Policy Hearings on SBHCs

After a pandemic and two years of rescheduling, school-based health centers finally got their hearing co-sponsored by Senator Katie Muth, Chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and Senator Art Haywood in April 2022! And it was worth the wait.

Julie Cousler Emig, PSBHA’s Executive Director, gave compelling testimony that spanned from the SBHC landscape in Pennsylvania to critical health issues facing our students to the lack of health equity based on students' zip code. Other panelists included Dr. Michel Colli, Chief Medical Officer from Keystone Health in Chambersburg and Jenny Englerth, from Family First Health in York. These practitioners painted a picture for Senators of what they are seeing in their clinics and the services students are able access on a regular basis and the positive impact on the school community.

Robert Boyd, President of the School-Based Health Alliance, educated the committee on how Pennsylvania compares to other states in relation to support for SBHCs. He was followed by Dr. Liz Miller, Medical Director, Community and Population Health, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and PSBHA board member, who shared her vast research and experience on what it means for students to have access to SBHCs. She was followed by Dr. Simon Haeder from Penn State University.

All of the panelists continued to stress that students are at a tipping point right now in terms of their mental health. Julie probably summed it up best by ending her testimony with this passionate plea:

“If the pandemic has shown us anything, then it is the critical mental health services our students desperately need. Our students are in a crisis. And, frankly, we are at a point where we should not just hope that our children’s resilience and grit will prevail and that our students will survive this pandemic. We need to make sure our students not only survive this time, but thrive post pandemic. Let us not lose a generation of students to this pandemic; we have already lost so much.”

We strongly believe that this hearing led to PSBHA being awarded the historic Health Equity grant of $2.85 million in May 2022.

May 2022- PSBHA Awarded $2.85 Million

In May, Senator Haywood, Senator Hughes and House Democratic Leader McClinton announced health equity funding from the American Rescue Plan. PSBHA received $2.85 million to expand mental health services in 33 SBHCs across the state impacting over 17,500 students! PSBHA members are ready to expand their services on the first day of the new school year this fall. We expect that we will be able to show improved outcomes for students, including decreased absenteeism and hospitalizations and overall increased student well-being. We cannot be more excited to get to work and provide the Commonwealth’s most at-risk students with the resources they need to not only survive the pandemic but thrive post pandemic.

June 2022- SBHC Funding in FY 23 Budget

In late June, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee released the draft fiscal year 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services (LLHS), Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, which included $100 million for SBHCs. The funding was split evenly between the Health Center program (FQHC sponsored) and the recently authorized program for all non-Health Center grantees (all other SBHC sponsor types). It now moves on to be considered in subcommittee.

This is an exciting increase from FY22. Last year, the House LHHS appropriations subcommittee included a total of $50 million for SBHCs ($25 million for each program type). Although the final amount for FY22 was less ($30mm and only for Health Center program), this is a great starting point for FY23 negotiations.

Meet your Board Members: An Interview with Dr. Betsy Porth

Each edition, we like to introduce a board member, so you can learn a little more about them. In this edition, we would like to present our Board Chair, Dr. Betsy Porth.

Education: Ph.D. from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Current Philanthropic Activities: I am committed to, and support, Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia, Hoops 4 Hope (a basketball league for men experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia), CanSurround and other organizations and opportunities such as low-income housing for seniors.

Family: Big, happy extended family which includes my son, daughter, son-in-law and three amazing grandchildren.

Residence: Philadelphia suburbs.

Hobbies: Read, travel, golf and spend time with family and friends.

Personal motto: “Let it go.”

What motivates you to do what you do?

The belief that every one of us needs and deserves access to a quality education and quality health care motivates me. The most efficient and effective, and least disruptive, way to provide both for children is in school. School-based health care has been shown to improve health outcomes, decrease reliance on emergency room care, increase school attendance and improve educational outcomes.

Why does the PSBHA mission speak to you?

PSBHA supports SBHCs and hopes to significantly expand the reach and number of SBHCs until every Pennsylvania student has access to care. My hope is that the next 5 years will prove pivotal to PSBHA in moving Pennsylvania toward this goal.

What is the most important thing you have learned in the past year?

This year I learned that even when it’s cloudy, the sun is shining bright.

More SBHCs Join PSBHA

PSBHA’s mission is to support SBHCs across the state to grow their reach and impact more students. This year we were able to welcome Allentown back into the network of communities with SBHCs thanks to Valley Health Partners.

Our legislative meetings in February for School-Based Health Awareness Month greatly benefited from having regional partners participate and the students in those previously unknown centers will now benefit from the expansion of mental health services in the coming school year. If you know of a SBHC and do not see it listed on our website, please let us know. The more the merrier!

In May, Senator Haywood, Senator Hughes and House Democratic Leader McClinton announced health equity funding from the American Rescue Plan. The Pennsylvania School-Based Health Alliance (PSBHA) received $2.85 million to expand mental health services in 33 SBHCs across the state impacting over 17,000 students! You can read more about the awards here.

PSBHA’s partners are ready to expand their services on the first day of the new school year this fall. We expect that we will be able to show improved outcomes for students, including decreased absenteeism and hospitalizations and increased student well-being overall.

We cannot be more excited to get to work and provide the Commonwealth’s most at-risk students with the resources they need to not only survive the pandemic but thrive post pandemic.

In April, Senator Muth, chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and Senator Haywood held a hearing on expanding school-based health centers in Pennsylvania.

Senator Haywood, a longtime ally of school-based health centers (SBHCs), recounted how he first learned about SBHCS while visiting a school in his district, Building 21. As a long-time advocate for access to health services, he immediately realized the SBHCs provide that needed access to close the health inequity gap that exists in low-income communities.

There were two panels, the first being led by PSBHA’s very own Executive Director, Julie Cousler Emig. Julie gave compelling testimony that spanned from the SBHC landscape in Pennsylvania to critical health issues facing our students to the lack of health equity based on students' zip code. Other panelists included Dr. Michel Colli, Chief Medical Officer from Keystone Health in Chambersburg and Jenny Englerth, from Family First Health in York. These practitioners painted a picture for Senators of what they are seeing in their clinics and the services students are able access on a regular basis and the positive impact on the school community.

The second panel was kicked off by our national colleague, Robert Boyd, President of the School-Based Health Alliance who educated the committee on how Pennsylvania compares to other states in relation to support for SBHCs. Spoiler alert- horribly. He was followed by Dr. Liz Miller, Medical Director, Community and Population Health, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and PSBHA board member, who shared her vast research and experience on what it means for students to have access to SBHCs. She was followed by Dr. Simon Haeder from Penn State University.

All of the panelists continued to stress that students are at a tipping point right in terms of their mental health. Julie probably summed it up best by ending her testimony with this passionate plea:

“If the pandemic has shown us anything, it is the critical mental health services our students desperately need. Our students are in a crisis. And, frankly, we are at a point where we should not just hope that our children’s resilience and grit will prevail and that our students will survive this pandemic. We need to make sure our students not only survive this time, but thrive post pandemic. Let us not lose a generation of students to this pandemic, we have already lost so much.”

Dear friend,

School-based health center work has never been for the faint of the heart. I thought that working in the field pre-pandemic was hard, but the work took on a whole new urgency these past 18 months. Besides being gratifying and important, I find success to highlight along the way. One such highlight was the formulation of the Pennsylvania School-Based Health Alliance (PSBHA).

After “volunteering” to be the emerging affiliate for the past seven years, it was gratifying to be accepted by the national School-Based Health Alliance as the official affiliate last year and gaining official non-profit status in 2021. In 2021, our first year up and running, we were able to strengthen school-based health services by advocating for public funding for SBHCs; providing regulatory support including input on developing SBHC supportive policies and coaching new and established SBHCs on best practices and new models of care.

Most rewarding, though, is that we did this work alongside our members from Chambersburg, Erie, Scranton and everywhere in between. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines strength in numbers as “a group of people has more influence or power than one person.” We have certainly lived that mantra this year. I am honored to present you with our first annual report highlighting our work from the past year.

Wishes for a healthy 2022,
Julie Cousler Emig
Executive Director

During School-Based Health Awareness month, PSBHA held multiple meetings with state representatives and senators. We convened the meeting with PSBHA staff, practitioners and community health workers so our elected officials could see the full picture of how SBHCs take a holistic approach to fighting health inequity.

PSBHA reached out to the Pennsylvania congressional delegation to advocate for Congress to include a $100 million appropriation in the fourth coronavirus response package. The funding would create a new grant program within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support school-based health centers (SBHCs). Though not successful, this has set us up for a later win!

PSBHA turned its attention back to the State House and Senate to advocate for using federal stimulus dollars to fund a proposal to invest $1.3 million in Pennsylvania SBHCs to expand mental health services. After hearing repeatedly the priority from legislative leaders around mental health, PSBHA crafted a proposal that would have expanded mental health capacity and data collection and evaluation processes to demonstrate the impact long-term.

Julie Cousler Emig provided testimony for the House Education and Human Services Committees’ Joint Hearing on Mental Health Services Provided to Pennsylvania’s Secondary Students.

We doubled down on our request to the General Assembly and requested that $2.85 million be appropriated in the FY 2022-2023 budget for a pilot program to expand the behavioral health services in each of the 26 SBHCs. The addition of a behavioral health counselor to join the SBHCs’ community health workers and support for the nurse practitioner or other medical provider would have better served children and adolescents identified with mental health and substance use risk.

Since the final budget did not include the $2.85 million investment in expanded mental health services in Pennsylvania’s 26 SBHCs, we turned our attention to the senate democratic caucus. We contacted each of the 21 democratic senators with the request that the next appropriations agreement include $2.85 million to support the work of SBHCs across this Commonwealth. While we understood that it would be an uphill battle for the full senate, we thought having the caucus support the proposal would be a strong signal that funding SBHCs is necessary for our students’ mental health.

The Senators who sent the support letter to Senator Hughes included:

• Senator Haywood

• Senator Lindsey M. Williams

• Senator Cappelletti

• Senator Kane

• Senator Collett

• Senator Tartaglione

• Senator Schwank

• Senator Sabatina

• Senator Street

• Senator Comitta

Please reach out to our allies and thank them for their commitment.

On the national front, the Senate’s Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee released their FY22 bill and it included a $60 million allocation for SBHCs and FQHC SBHCs! In September, the House included $50 million in their budget, so the Senate budget is a $10 million increase. This is the first time that both houses of Congress included funding for SBHCs. As of publication, President Biden signed a Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded until February 18th 2022. Hopefully, this Continuing Resolution will allow both parties the time to reach a deal on a package of appropriations bills that have been caught up in negotiations for months, including funding for SBHCs.

PA has a new SBHC coming on board. Kudos to Sadler Health Center and West Perry School District in Perry County who have teamed up to bring oral health care to the students for years and now will launch a full service SBHC in 2022. We happily await the ribbon cutting.

The PSBHA surveyed eight SBHC operators across PA this summer to learn the current scope of their services and the reimbursement models and care metrics for sustainability and impact in Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable communities. In 2022 we will team up with the Medicaid plans to share the scope and impact to envision a new and coordinated framework to advance pediatric and adolescent health and educational equity. We look forward to deepening this partnership and measuring our impact in 2022 and beyond.