Community Health Programs
CCHE: School-Based Health Center Program LEON SMART • Practice Administrator • lds9005@nyp.org MELANIE GOLD, DO, DABMA, DMQ, FAAP, FACOP • Medical Director • mag2295@columbia.edu Mission and Goals
Key Accomplishments
The School-Based Health Center (SBHC) Program is a network of primary care practice sites located within seven New York City Department of Education school campuses, housing 23 schools. SBHCs provide primary healthcare, immunizations, chronic illness management, sexual and reproductive health services, and care for acute illness and injury to all students on campus—facilitating access to care and preventing lost academic time. In addition, mental healthcare is fully integrated in the provision of care and provided on-site by psychologists, clinical social workers, and a psychiatrist. Dental services are available at select sites. Health educators provide individual counseling, conduct classroom education sessions—including evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention curricula— and train and lead peer educators who conduct educational sessions on a range of youth health promotion topics.
•C ommunity Schools Mental Health Intervention. Via an evidence- based framework, a broad range of schoolbased mental health support services promote the emotional well-being and healthy functioning of all students on the George Washington Educational High School Campus. The three tiers encompass “universal” mental health services, which provide schoolwide resources to impart knowledge and promote a nurturing environment for all students; “selective” services, which support a subset of students at risk of developing mental health or substance use conditions; and “targeted” mental health services, which support students who have diagnosable mental health conditions.
Number of People Reached
6,000
otal number of patients T annually
800 Students receiving mental health services 2,000 Students receiving evidencebased classroom education
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• NYPeers peer education and youth development. Annual cohorts of
youth leaders are identified to receive evidence-based training and conduct peer education on a host of health promotion topics. In addition, youth leaders spend a summer interning at the Hospital and gain professional skills and exposure to health career paths. • I ntegrative health in SBHCs. Mindfulness, self-hypnosis, acupuncture, acupressure, aromatherapy, and yoga are integrative health modalities offered at SBHCs. During January-June 2020, the SBHCs continued to provide medical and mental health services to students through telemedicine despite schools being closed because of COVID-19. During this period, 2,600 students received care.
