LOS ANGELES: School, County Looking at Health Clinic Partnership
The Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, a charter school in Los Angeles' northeast valley, has offered to provide $100,000 and 1,800 square feet if the county helps start a student health clinic at its campus. The school would be an "ideal site" for the health center, according to officials, who noted that about three-quarters of the 1,200 students are uninsured. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said officials are receptive to partnering the school with the county Department of Health Services, "but cautioned the idea was still at an early stage." The Los Angeles Times reports that the health center "could receive additional support from a proposed partnership between the county, school districts and federal government." Vaughn Principal Yvonne Chan said the $100,000 commitment comes from private donations and the school budget. Chan and Yaroslavsky said that county doctors or nurse practitioners at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar "could work at the center and offer general pediatric care, vision and hearing testing, immunizations and, ideally, specialty treatments in common childhood ailments such as asthma" (Sauerwein, 2/18).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.