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Health Department-funded School Wellness Program to bring nurse, mental-health provider to Mancelona schools
Summary
The Health Department of Northwest Michigan will place a full-time nurse and a mental-health provider in Mancelona schools beginning Oct. 1 under an MDHHS-funded School Wellness Program, district officials said. The Ironmen Health Center will close due to funding shortfalls, officials added.
Jennifer Vollmer, School Health Director, told the Mancelona Public Schools Board on Aug. 13 that a School Wellness Program funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and delivered by the Health Department of Northwest Michigan will begin Oct. 1.
Vollmer said the program will provide a full-time nurse and a mental-health provider to serve students PreK-12, with the aim of reducing missed school time and improving physical and mental health to support academic success. Nursing services will be based in the elementary and middle schools; high-school students can access services by visiting those buildings.
"This program will be effective October 1st with plans to hire a nurse sometime in October or November," Vollmer said. She told the board the program works together with, not as a replacement for, existing school health services.
Board member Kim Musselman asked whether the program would be part of the Ironmen Health Center. Vollmer said the Ironmen Health Center would be closing because it no longer had funds to operate based on the number of unduplicated visits.
Board members received the update during the presentations portion of the Aug. 13 meeting; the SWP will require district coordination for space, scheduling and staff collaboration once hires are made.
