Pilot program to ramp up health care at schools
BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

WOODBRIDGE - School and health officials are hoping a new pilot program will help diagnose student illnesses more quickly and reduce absenteeism.

Two nurse practitioners will work hand in hand with school nurses, and will rotate among six elementary schools in the district starting in November.

State Sen. and interim Mayor Joseph Vitale announced the debut of the Woodbridge school-based nurse practitioner health services pilot project at an Oct. 19 press conference held at the Board of Education meeting at the Avenel Middle School.

"Our purpose is to help students get the medical treatment they need in a more timely, cost-effective manner," said Vitale. "The program will allow the school nurse to work with an advanced practice nurse [APN] to offer primary care service for the student at the school."

The board unanimously approved the program that same night. The program is a collaboration among the state Department of Children and Families, the state Department of Human Services and Medicaid, Woodbridge Township, the Woodbridge Township School District, and the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey.

The APNs are registered nurses with 18 months to two years of additional education. The nurses, in collaboration with a physician, will provide physicals, immunizations, health screenings and diagnosis and treatment of common childhood health issues.

The nurses will be able to diagnose and prescribe appropriate medication or other primary care treatment for acute and chronic illnesses such as asthma, chicken pox, conjunctivitis, ear infections, sore throats and upper respiratory infections.

"If a child comes into a school nurse's office with an illness, the school nurse will refer the child to the APN," said Mary Ann Christopher, president and CEO of VNA Central Jersey. "If the illness is, for example, strep throat, the APN can diagnose the illness and prescribe the appropriate antibiotics for the child right away."

Christopher said the parents will always be informed. The child might still have to be sent home, with an illness such as strep throat, but the process will save time and money, she said.

"The parent might still have to pick their child up from school, but they don't have to rush to their physician or an emergency room," said Christopher. "It saves the parents time because they will know what illness their child has right then and there."

The state Department of Children and Families, the state Department of Human Services and Medicaid, and the VNACJ will provide funding for the APN services in the six schools through grants and designated funds.

"The pilot program cost this year will be $175,000 and the cost each following year will be $135,000," said Christopher. "Eventually, we hope we can expand the program to the other schools. It depends on how quickly the school board wants to move on this program."

Vitale and the school board hand-picked the six schools out of the 16 elementary schools in the district on a need basis.

The program will offer health care to 2,291 students at Avenel Street School No. 4 and No. 5, Port Reading School No. 9, Ross Street School No. 11, Woodbine Avenue School No. 23 in Avenel, Lafayette Estates School No. 25 in Fords, and Matthew Jago School No. 28 in Sewaren. The nurses will rotate among the six schools starting Nov. 27.

The VNACJ anticipates that close to 1,000 students will use the program during the first year. That translates into approximately 3,000 visits.

Elementary schools were selected for two reasons, Christopher said.

"The frequency of sickness is high within those grade levels," she said. "And the impact on the prevention of the sickness early on is key."

VNA started a school-based program in the Keansburg school district in 1998, Christopher said.

"Now we provide services in the Red Bank, Asbury Park, and Carteret school systems and other schools throughout the state," she said.

The results have been reduced student and parent absenteeism from school and work, she said.

"Teachers have seen students' attentiveness improve in the classroom because the students are in school more instead of being out of school," she said.

VNA is committed to make the program a long-term private and public collaboration with the Board of Education.

Ann Clemency Kohler, director of the DHS's Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, said they are committed to finding ways to ensure continuous funding for the program.

The program differs from the other VNACJ school-based programs in place by their collaboration with the state Department of Human Services and Medicaid.

"Our goal is to ascertain and establish a billing with Medicaid," said Christopher. "Traditionally, the child would go through their insurance company provider, but it will be easier on the school system to bill through Medicaid."

Another goal of the program would be to enroll families in NJ Family Care, a federal and state-funded health insurance program created to help New Jersey's uninsured children and certain low-income parents and guardians to have affordable health coverage, Vitale said.

He hopes the program put in place in Woodbridge can be a model for other schools throughout the state. The program is a major step forward in expanding health care access, he said.

"The school-based nurse program will help hard-working New Jersey families meet the health-care needs of their children and help get more families involved in a regular network of health-care prevention," Vitale said. "This program will also help the most underserved children, whether it is lack of insurance or easy access to health care."