Health Care Centers in Schools

October 19, 2004
Louisiana Assembly Holds Advocacy Meeting

“It’s as easy as A, B, C! Advocating Better Health Care for Children,” was the message for the first advocacy meeting of the Louisiana Assembly on School-Based Health Care (LASBHC).

School health leaders from around Louisiana met in the Senate briefing room at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge to discuss the launch of an advocacy plan to impact public policy. The hope is to make a positive legislative impact and expand school-based health centers (SBHCs) throughout the state.

Participants at the advocacy meeting stand and greet the audience. Each
discussed how they became involved in school-based health care.

Currently Louisiana has 56 SBHC in 23 parishes providing access to health services for over 50,000 children. According to the Maureen Daly, medical and program director for the Adolescent School Health Initiative, the Department of Health and Hospitals’ goal is to increase the number of SBHCs each year so that every parish has at least one by 2010. “The expansion plan will help increase the number of health centers to 95,” says Daly.

The expansion plan was just one of the calls for school-based health care supporters to band together for the upcoming 2005 legislative session. The executive director of LASBHC, Chip Peters, invited all the participants to mobilize a team of advocates and assemble at the January 2005 advocacy meeting. For more information please contact Health Care Centers in Schools.