Childrens School Services

Form 990-ez, Part III, Line 28

“CSS has provided the operational and management oversight of school nursing services in the District of Columbia Public and Public Charter Schools, on behalf of the District of Columbia Department of Health (DC DOH), since July 2001. During this time, CSS designed, developed and implemented a substantial infrastructure to support the provision of professional school health nursing services to meet the healthcare needs of students. About one-third of DC children live below the federal poverty level, a socioeconomic burden that is much more prevalent among African American children. Based on 2013 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data, approximately 97.6% of eligible DC children have access to health coverage, and most are enrolled in Medicaid. However, 10.2% of children do not have a personal doctor or nurse, based on 2013 data (DC Health Needs Assessment, 2016). CSS is currently in the first year of a five-year grant, which is 100% funded by DC DOH. As a result of CSSs program and the grant, DC students receive much needed medical care free of charge during the school day. The current CSS program is responsible for the provision of high quality, effective, efficient, safe and timely nursing services to approximately 84,000 students, ages 3 to 21, in 174 public and public charter schools, and special needs school sites in the District of Columbia. The program also provides limited physician services to DC Public and Public Charter Schools students. Under the guidance of DC DOH, the program has expanded the nursing coverage available in the Districts schools, linking students who may otherwise lack access to care to much-needed primary and specialty care. The programs nurses provide not only healthcare to students but also health education on topics from hand washing to nutrition, to better prepare students to take control of their health through proven prevention methods. In the school year, 2015 - 2016, the vast majority of public schools (96 percent of DCPS and 81 percent of DCPCS) received school nursing services 40 hours per week, with the remainder covered by 24-32 hours per week. Approximately 80 percent of the programs nursing staff is comprised of registered nurses (RN). The remaining staff includes licensed practical nurses (LPN), one health technician and one nursing assistant. CSS plans to enhance school nursing services that place focus on students overall health & well-being and encompasses community resources and linkages. To that end, CSS seeks to create and implement a new model of comprehensive school health services that will become an integrated prat of a system of coordinated health care for children, by being actively connected to the school environment, primary care medical homes and other needed community-based services. One of the goals of this body of work is to build and strengthen partnerships that will function as a team to improve childrens health in the District of Columbia.”