School-based health centers, some kids’ only health care for miles, see steep drop in patients
Article by the Colorado Independent
In some areas of Colorado, school-based health centers (SBHCs) have been students’ only source of healthcare for miles. And they still are, with many of the centers having transitioned to providing telehealth services since schools were closed March 18. But appointments via video calls can’t address all patients’ needs and, for some families, can be logistically harder than visiting clinics in person. Those limitations combined with fear from the pandemic, families being unaware clinics are open and economic fallout on an already financially precarious population has contributed to some centers’ patient load dropping by as much as 75%.