Winter Park Health Foundation Funding of School-Based Health Care Services Exceeds $9 Million
The Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) Board of Trustees recently agreed to extend the Foundation’s financial support for school nursing care and mental health services for students attending 12 schools in east Orange County through the 2006-2007 school year, bringing its total investment in school health programs since 1998 to more than $9 million.
Orange County School Board members on August 1 endorsed the school health services and approved continuing its partnership with WPHF this school year.
Established in the belief that healthy kids make better students, and better students make healthy communities, the school health programs developed and supported by the WPHF are part of its Coordinated Youth Initiative (CYI). It is a comprehensive school-based health and wellness program aimed at caring for the health of the whole child.
Through the CYI, the Foundation provides funds for licensed nurses, mental health professionals and Healthy School Teams at each of these schools: Aloma, Audubon Park, Brookshire, Cheney, Hungerford, Killarney, Lakemont and Lake Sybelia elementary schools: Glenridge and Maitland middle schools; Winter Park High School and the Winter Park 9th Grade Center. The Foundation initiated the concept of Healthy School Teams in 2002 based on the CDC’s Coordinated School Health Model. Last month, the Orange County School Board approved a set of school wellness policies that includes the implementation of Healthy School Teams at all 170+ schools throughout the district.
The Foundation also provides funds for nurse practitioners based at Student Health Centers at Glenridge Middle School and Winter Park High School. The nurse practitioners provide more advanced medical care to students in all of the schools served through the CYI.
WPHF is a private, not-for-profit organization supporting programs that improve the health of youth, older adults and the uninsured. It also conducts research and provides education on health issues affecting these groups. A long-trusted leader on health care issues, the foundation serves as a catalyst for information-gathering, research and collaboration on health issues impacting Central Florida.
