United Community and Family Services outlines school-based health services for Norwich students

United Community and Family Services told the Norwich Board of Education on Tuesday that it operates medical, dental and behavioral health services inside district schools and aims to expand as new buildings come online.

Kara Wescott, chief operating officer at United Community and Family Services, told the board UCFS is a federally qualified health center that partners with Norwich Public Schools and that services are provided to any enrolled Norwich student regardless of which school they attend. “The services are at no cost to the school,” Wescott said, explaining that care is billed to a child’s insurance or provided under a sliding‑fee scale for uninsured families.

The presentation described how UCFS reestablished school‑based centers after another provider stepped back and how recent grant awards have expanded services. Wescott said UCFS has received about $700,000 in grant funding from the School Based Health Alliance and related sources to support the district centers since 2022 and detailed use of that funding for behavioral health, immunization clinics and food‑security efforts.

Board members pressed for operational details. Wescott said the three main centers in the district served roughly 280 students at one middle school site and reported counts across sites: at one elementary site UCFS logged 25 students and 40 visits for primary care and 37 behavioral‑health patients with 390 visits; at another elementary site UCFS saw about 80 students and 32 behavioral‑health patients; and at Kelly Middle School a full‑time family practice provider had 239 enrolled patients and a clinician had seen 51 students, bringing the school’s total to about 280 students served through May. Wescott described behavioral health treatment as a defined course of care — commonly 12 to 18 sessions — that addresses grief, depression, anxiety and trauma, and she said UCFS runs evidence‑based group programs such as Bounce Back for trauma work.

Wescott said UCFS coordinates with the district’s director of nursing, Laura Dietrich, and with the Southeastern Connecticut health district on immunization compliance and flu clinics. “It’s the constant communication. It’s the collaboration,” Dietrich told the board in the meeting when referenced by Wescott; Wescott credited that partnership for lowering the district’s noncompliance with immunization requirements from more than 100 students in prior years to fewer than 15 at the time of the presentation.

Wescott also described a spring food distribution event funded by the school‑based health grants: UCFS used a roughly $41,000 supplemental award to run a drive‑through food distribution in April that provided more than 150 bags of perishable and nonperishable food and later gift cards to families in need. She said UCFS deploys family engagement staff to help enroll students in insurance programs when parents lack coverage and that some centers maintain separate entrances to preserve privacy for adolescent visits.

Board members asked about hours, summer coverage and coordination with school counselors and social workers. Wescott said UCFS offers flexibility, provides summer services on an abbreviated schedule, and generally receives referrals from school social workers. She said clinical onboarding begins with an intake assessment with the parent and student and that UCFS attempts to share care notes with a child’s primary pediatrician to preserve continuity of care.

Wescott provided contact information and offered to distribute a district packet with UCFS staff numbers; she said Kelly Brown, UCFS operations supervisor, is the local operational lead. The board did not take formal action on the presentation but indicated continued planning to locate centers in new school construction and to include UCFS in back‑to‑school and parent‑night outreach.

Any follow‑up includes continued coordination between UCFS and district nursing staff, and UCFS told the board it would assist enrollment at fall events and provide materials to the district office.