Editor’s note: This article is part of a joint editorial initiative between the National Association of Community Health Centers and Direct Relief.

School isn’t just a place for students to learn; it’s increasingly become a place young people rely on for critical services, including healthcare. That’s the case for over 7,000 students in two parishes in northwestern Louisiana. They can receive wellness checks, vaccines, acute care, and behavioral and chronic health support, all without leaving school grounds. More students are expected to have access to medical care this upcoming school year.

For 30 years, children in four Caddo Parish schools could receive medical care at school. Since students have returned to in-school learning following the pandemic, David Raines Community Health Center has increased those efforts to include 21 schools to encourage and support healthy kids in northern Louisiana.

The school-based program expanded into neighboring Bossier Parish to include two more schools during the 2024-2025 school year, and will grow again in Fall 2025 with an additional mobile medical unit. Health center staff say the increased access to care allows families to learn about basic hygiene and health needs, which will improve the community’s quality of life and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

The state has higher than the national average rates of heart disease and stroke, and also high numbers of people living with diabetes and other chronic diseases, making health availability critical for families.

The health center operates 11 brick-and-mortar sites on school grounds and has two mobile medical units that go to 10 schools. A third mobile unit will become operational this fall. The health center opened three school-based centers during the 2024-2025 school year at Bossier High School, Rusheon Middle School, and Broadmoor STEM Elementary and Middle School.

The health center sites are on school grounds and are open when school is open. Health center staff said that expanding access to quality care will encourage children to develop healthy habits at an earlier age.

“We’re helping to form, hopefully, healthier adults,” said Yolanda Green, assistant regional clinic manager for David Raines Community Health Center and a registered nurse. “Healthier children will mean healthier adults because they’ve learned the importance of going to a doctor, regular checkups, exercise, and eating healthy foods.”

Green said there’s value in having school-based care for parents, too. She said that many can’t or are afraid to take time off from hourly work schedules to take a child to the doctor. With a medical team on site, parents can trust that their children receive proper and timely medical care.

“Whatever district you’re in, that’s the commonality,” Green said. “We see the same thing with kids who are having trouble getting access to care because of transportation or because parents work jobs where it’s hard to get time off, or they are on Medicaid and it’s hard to find a provider who accepts Medicaid.”
 
That coverage is always shifting due to policy changes, and providing care at school provides consistency. In 2016, Louisiana expanded access to Medicaid and by 2021 had lowered the rate of uninsured adults significantly, but recent federal changes are likely to decrease Medicaid enrollment moving forward, limiting more healthcare options. However, health centers like David Raines, continue to provide access to care.

Most of the schools that David Raines has partnered with have Title I designation and receive state and federal funding based on the number of low-achieving students and high rates of poverty.  

Andrea McKnight, development director at David Raines, said that they hope to expand the program into two more parishes to support the health needs of the area.

“They have access to behavioral health, which is huge for any student, no matter what their economic status or circumstance is,” she said.

The health program requires parental consent for students to be seen. The medical teams are predominantly led by nurse practitioners and strive to educate families on health and wellness. According to McKnight, it’s also important that the health center employees are compassionate and understanding, as some of the students come from homes where the entire family shares one toothbrush.

“It’s important to understand that those children, where they live and the atmosphere they come from, they show up every morning to get their morning hug, and you realize that it might be the only hug they get today,” she said.

Direct Relief has supported school-based health centers across the U.S., including David Raines Community Health Centers, which has received more than $3.3 million in medical support since 2008.