ENROLLED
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 39
BY REPRESENTATIVE SMITH
A RESOLUTION
To designate April 23, 2015, 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 on threats to children's health
such as childhood obesity, asthma, 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 in 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 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
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WHEREAS, school-based health care facilities complement school nurses and social
workers 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-two school-based health care facilities are operated
in twenty-seven parishes throughout the state; and
WHEREAS, these health care facilities serve an additional fifty-three feeder schools;
and
WHEREAS, during the 2013-2014 school year, over forty-seven thousand students
have made nearly one hundred fifteen thousand visits to school-based health care facilities.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby designate April 23, 2015, as School-Based Health Care
Awareness Day in Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
to the Louisiana Alliance on School Based Health board president, Tracy Parker.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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