As the mother of two teenage girls, I was delighted to hear about the school-based health center being proposed for Port Angeles High School.
Having access to student-athlete physicals and immunizations on campus would provide a wonderful convenience to busy parents like me.
However, convenience is the least of the reasons why the center is such a great idea.
There are far too many kids in Port Angeles who do not have adequate health care.
Kids who cannot afford to go to the doctor or who don’t have the parental support to seek care are left untreated.
A school-based health center would allow these kids to be seen by a doctor, and it won’t cost the school district anything to operate beyond the startlingly low costs of approximately $5,000 a year set aside for capital costs.
This is a win-win for students and for our community.
Studies show that school-based health centers are associated with lower absenteeism, less truancy, improved graduation rates and higher GPAs.
Common sense dictates that kids who get treatment when they are sick will be more successful.
Healthy schools make healthy communities, and this gives us the nearly unheard-of chance to provide for our students in a way that is cost-neutral to the district.
Please write school board President Josh Jones at jjones@portangelesschools.org to voice your support for the SBHC, and ask that they approve it at the June 8 Port Angeles School Board meeting.
Our kids deserve this.
Leslie Robertson,
Port Angeles
EDITOR’S NOTE: Robertson is an organizer of the community activist group Revitalize Port Angeles.