PACOIMA : School Project Offers More Than Band-Aid

When Jody Adams-Renteria sat down at her little school desk in Pacoima and began her exam, it was not a No. 2 pencil she needed to complete her task. It was a stethoscope.

The nurse was giving medical examinations Wednesday as part of a new program at the Vaughn Family Center, a community service center located at the Vaughn Street Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima.

The school is a Los Angeles Unified School District Charter School working with several agencies to bring health care to low-income students whose parents cannot normally afford insurance.

Although the school already has the services of a nurse, the new managed health delivery program has both Adams-Renteria and a medical assistant to provide more than just Band-Aids for knees skinned on the playground.

“With me here, we can do medical exams on a regular basis and catch problems before they develop,” Adams-Renteria, a family nurse practitioner, said as she examined 5-year-old Carlos Martinez Jr.

Sitting on an examination table in a former storage room for schoolbooks, Carlos--the first patient to be treated under the new program--quietly submitted to the nurse’s pokes and prods.

Immunization, TB tests and physical examinations can be performed under the program, with more serious problems referred to other locations.

“You’re doing good,” Adams-Renteria said in Spanish as she tried to soothe the nervous boy.

After a 30-minute examination from head to toe, Adams-Renteria turned to the boy’s mother, Josephine Martinez, with her diagnosis. “He’s basically a really healthy guy,” she said in Spanish. Carlos, who was not born in the United States, was unable to receive regular health care before the Vaughn center opened. MediCal would only accept him on an emergency basis.

Then the family enrolled with CaliforniaKids, a nonprofit organization that provides free health insurance to children 2 to 18 years old from low-income families.

Together with the Northeast Valley Health Corporation, Vaughn officials, and $76,000 in funding from Blue Cross of California, CaliforniaKids opened the new health care program at the school.

“Before, I used to have to go to Olive View (medical center) and wait in the emergency room,” said Josephine Martinez. “It was harder. Now I can walk to school and get the care.”

Nearly half the population of the Pacoima-Sun Valley area surrounding the school lives below the poverty level, according to data released by the office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

Center officials say they will be able to treat students five days a week at the new center. As many as 300 students at the school may be immediately eligible. If the program is successful, officials hope to expand it to other schools.

“This is a trend,” said Michael Koch, executive director of CaliforniaKids. “What we would like to do is show other schools how to do it.”