DHD#10 to open school wellness program in McBain

Jun. 24—McBAIN — District Health Department No. 10 has received funding from the state of Michigan to open a school wellness program at McBain Agricultural Rural Schools.

The program will provide one nurse and one counselor — both of whom will technically be health department employees — to K-12 students in the McBain Agricultural Rural Schools district. The nurse and counselor will facilitate health education in the schools and administer care to students.

The program is jointly funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan Department of Education. The funding for this program is stable and ongoing, so DHD10 will not have to reapply for it.

Superintendent Scott Akom said he's "really excited" about his district's incoming school wellness program.

"If a student's healthy and happy, they perform better," Akom said. "They learn quicker and are better students."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is a link between students' health and their academic performance. One analysis done by the CDC found that students who earned mostly A's, B's or C's were less likely to engage in health-related risk behaviors than students with mostly D's and F's.

It has been at least 10 years since McBain Rural Agricultural Schools has had a school nurse, Akom said. Having a trained nurse on staff will also allow kids to be properly assessed for their medical needs and given suggestions for treatment or given treatment on site.

"They can determine if a student needs to go home or if they're going to be able to stay in school the rest of the day or if they need to be referred to their primary care provider," said Katy Bies, DHD10 Director of School Health.

The program will also alleviate the workload of McBain school staff who, without nurses at the school, have to dole out Band-Aids, determine if a student is too sick to stay at school and administer medical treatment to students.

"Sometimes your school secretaries don't get enough credit for all that they do, handing out Band-Aids and taking care of kids with fevers or throwing up, waiting for parents to come and get them," Akom said.

This will also benefit students with chronic health needs, like students who have seizures or are diabetic, Akom said.

As previously reported, Michigan has one of the worst school nurse to student ratios in the United States — about 1 nurse for every 6,000 students. Michigan's student to school counselor ratio is also high, 1-to-638, compared to the 1-to-250 counselor-to-student ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA).

Lack of funding and shallow pools of applicants for these jobs are often the biggest obstacles schools face when it comes to keeping nurses and counselors on staff or hiring them. During the pandemic, an increase in concerns around public health and new streams of funding for schools and health departments has led to an increase in the number of school nurses in Michigan.

McBain currently has two social workers whose positions are covered by 31o funding, which only covers a portion of their salaries for up to three years. Akom said the school district is also using dollars from the ESSER fund, which is one-time, relief funding to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, to support their social workers' salaries.

Over the next few years, Akom said he plans to build the funding for the social workers' salaries into the school district's budget, but he's also hoping for future grants to support these positions as well.

The program at McBain High School is projected to begin at the start of the 2022-23 school year, Bies said. The health department has already sent out postings for the wellness program jobs, she said.

But hiring for those kinds of positions hasn't been easy, especially in northern Michigan, Akom said. McBain's most recent social worker hire was an alumna of the school district who was working with Munson, which was a lucky get.

"It's been a shortage across Michigan, just like teachers," Akom said.

While the state government recognizes the issues with hiring and has passed some legislation to help, there are also legal requirements for those positions to have degrees, such as a Masters in Social Work, that are not a common sight in the region, Akom said.

Some school districts have sought out shortcuts to fill posted positions, such as hiring people while they finish up their degrees, Akom said.

McBain's soon-to-be school wellness program will be open to kids with or without health insurance. Uninsured or under-insured students will receive care for free while insurance providers for students with health insurance will be billed for their care.

MDHHS launched School Wellness Programs in 2010. In 2021, MDHHS tallied 29 school wellness programs in the state.

According to MDHHS, between October 2018 and September 2019, the state's school wellness programs received over 26,000 total visits, including over 10,000 mental health visits.

DHD10 covers about 262,000 residents in Kalkaska, Crawford, Missaukee, Wexford, Manistee, Lake, Mason, Oceana, Newaygo and Mecosta counties, according to the DHD10 website.

About 10 years ago, DHD10 received funding for school wellness programs for Mesick High School and Manton High School, Bies said.

In addition to the school wellness programs within its jurisdiction, DHD10 also supports five Adolescent Health Centers and three Expanding, Enhancing Emotional Health mental health programs within its 10-county jurisdiction. Each of these centers or programs offer services for adolescents.