Health:

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Georgia Highlands Medical Services CEO Todd Shifflet said the entire process from conception to creation took about 14 months, thanks to collaboration between the school and the medical nonprofit.

“It’s open even quicker than we expected,” Cumming Elementary School Principal Jordan Livermore said.

The Forsyth County Board of Education approved an agreement with Georgia Highlands Medical Services at a September 2022 meeting. The project already had funding via federal grants from Health Resources and Services Administration and Georgia Primary Care Association.

Shifflet had sat on the idea of a school-based health center for years, but when he secured funding, he approached Cumming Elementary School for a partnership.

The nonprofit community health center serves over 5,000 children, 90 percent from low-income households. Shifflet chose Cumming Elementary because of its location and Title 1 status, which is a federally funded program that assists schools with high numbers of children living in poverty.

With the county’s approval, Georgie Highlands Medical Services moved ahead with transforming vacant classrooms in the school into a full-fledged health center. The nonprofit aims to provide students with accessible onsite medical care, without kids having semitism.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has taken issue with the definition’s discussion of Israel and has condemned the bill as potentially criminalizing pro-Palestinian speech.

Rep Panitch said the bill contains examples of anti-Zionism and that “not all anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” to miss school or parents having to leave work.

Panitch said in a previous interview that the bill would not affect incidents like the spreading of antisemitic flyers, because that is considered free speech and is protected under the First Amendment.

To view the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of antisemitism, go to holocaustremembrance.com.

To learn more about the Anti-Defamation League, visit adl.org.

To learn about how to report hate speech on various platforms, visit adl. org/cyber-safety-action-guide.

To learn about the services and resources offered by Temple Emanu-El, go to templeemanuelatlanta.org.

“It’s like having a pediatric office inside the school,” Shifflet said.

The CEO said the health center will have various benefits, including “better attendance, better grades and better engagement.”

Shifflet and the Georgia Highlands Medical Services team visited multiple health centers across Georgia while developing the plans for Cumming Elementary’s center.

The school and nonprofit did not expect the health center to open until August, but construction finished ahead of schedule. Principal Livermore joked that he should have taken “before and after pictures” of the transformed space.

At the ribbon cutting, guests toured the health center, with multiple examination rooms fully stocked with medical gear.

Principal Livermore said the key component to the health center’s success is getting children and parents to trust its employees. Nurse Practitioner Ford has children who attend the school, and she has already served as the nurse practitioner for some students.

“She’s kind of bringing the clientele with her that go to this school,” Livermore said. “She’s already earned the trust of our community.”

Livermore said as families begin to trust the health center more, he hopes it will become the “hub of the community.”

“This is really going to help kids’ social, emotional, behavioral and physical health,” Livermore said.