GLENDALE : Free Medical Care to Be Offered Pupils

A coalition of the area’s three hospitals has developed a pilot program to provide low-income schoolchildren with free health care and is searching for an executive director, physicians and volunteers.

Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Verdugo Hills Hospital and Glendale Memorial Hospital have teamed up with the Glendale Unified School District to create a program designed to provide free health care services at elementary schools.

To be called “Healthy Kids,” the program is funded primarily through grants and is scheduled to debut this fall at Cerritos, Edison, La Crescenta, Mann and Marshall schools.

If the pilot is successful, the partnership hopes to expand the program to reach students districtwide as well as those in private and parochial schools.

The idea is to provide low-income children with preventive health care so they aren’t forced to visit emergency rooms for conditions that went untreated, said Connie Toomey, director of community services at Glendale Memorial Hospital.

In addition to searching for dietitians, dentists and physicians to volunteer their services, Toomey said the coalition is asking for donations of pharmaceutical supplies, hearing aids and eyeglasses.

The group hopes to hire an executive director by June to work in the district’s administrative building where offices will be set aside for the program according to an agreement between the board of education and the coalition.

The pilot program is one of two such ventures in Southern California, Toomey said. It is modeled on a similar project in Pasadena.

According to program guidelines, a child must be sent by a teacher to a school nurse for a health problem and then receive a subsequent referral from the nurse to the “Healthy Kids” program coordinator.

The coordinator would then match the child to a participating health care provider. Children will qualify for “Healthy Kids” services if they are underinsured or have no health insurance.

Staff at Glendale Memorial Hospital decided to research a health program for children after teachers complained of poor nutrition and health care among some students. Teachers reported that children were coming to school with a strong cup of coffee as their only nourishment for the day, and that some youngsters were teased and called “jack-o-lanterns” by their peers because of poor teeth.

A study completed by the coalition indicated that the most significant health care needs for Glendale children include dental care, nutrition, mental health counseling, access to medical specialists and medical services for the developmentally disabled.