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Regular Session, 2014 ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 98
BY SENATOR MILLS AND REPRESENTATIVE STUART BISHOP
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To designate April 23, 2014, as "School-Based Health Care Awareness Day" in Louisiana.
WHEREAS, school-based health care facilities are an important statewide resource
helping to address the health care needs of underserved and uninsured children, providing
needed preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services, including direct primary and mental
health care for acute and chronic illnesses, health education, case management assistance,
and immunizations; and
WHEREAS, these facilities provide vital counseling for more recently understood
health care concerns that have replaced infectious diseases as the major illnesses of
childhood, including such risk factors as childhood obesity, smoking, substance abuse,
violence, and safety issues, as well as behavioral problems ranging from mild to severe; and
WHEREAS, in 1990, as policymakers became concerned about the high morbidity
and mortality rates of adolescents, the Office of Public Health, within the Department of
Health and Hospitals, was asked to determine the feasibility of opening school-based health
care facilities; and
WHEREAS, in 1991, the Adolescent School Health Initiative was enacted and
school-based health care facilities came into existence around the state; and
WHEREAS, a school-based health care facility provides convenient access to
comprehensive, primary, and preventive physical and mental health services for public
school students available at the school site; and
WHEREAS, as students spend a significant portion of their day on school grounds,
school-based health care facilities are accessible, convenient, encourage family and
community involvement, reduce student absenteeism, reduce parental leave from work for
doctor visits, and work with school personnel to meet the needs of the students and their
families; and SCR NO. 98 ENROLLED
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WHEREAS, school-based health care facilities complement school nurses and social
workers, where they exist, because generally the scope of practice of school nurses and
social workers is more limited than that of the school-based health care facility, which has
a broad mandate; and
WHEREAS, the school-based health care facilities are able to provide
comprehensive health services to students, providing treatment for minor illness and injury,
comprehensive physicals as may be required for school-related activities, behavioral health
counseling, treatments for chronic diseases, required vaccines, and other beneficial services
to enhance the learning environment of a school; and
WHEREAS, at this time sixty-three school-based health care facilities are operated
in twenty-seven parishes throughout the state; and
WHEREAS, during the 2012-2013 school year over seventy-one thousand students
made nearly one hundred twelve thousand visits to school-based health care facilities; and
WHEREAS, in this 2013-2014 school year over fifty-seven thousand students have
made nearly eighty-five thousand visits to school-based health care facilities, with several
weeks remaining in the school year.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
designate April 23, 2014, as "School-Based Health Care Awareness Day" in Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
Louisiana School-Based Health Alliance, current Board President Theresa Williams.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES