School district hosts free wellness checkups for students
For many students, school provides a basic foundation of learning and social interaction. For others, it provides so much more. Schools within the Humboldt County School District are offering students the opportunity to have a place of stability and resources for basic needs that they may not have otherwise.
Director of Curriculum for Humboldt County, Colby Corbitt, Dr. Lacy Fettic, Dr. Mich Gehrig, and Dr. Trenton Argyle teamed up to provide students in the district with free wellness check-ups. These check-ups were facilitated in order to make it easy for students and their parents to catch up on basic medical care. Corbitt said that this opportunity allows student’s to get medical care without having to miss school. Corbitt explained that many schools on the east coast have a full-time physician available to students every single day and that he plans to expand the program as much as possible, with health care being provided to all of the elementary schools this year.
Having this resource available means “one less thing families have to worry about so that they can focus on education,” said Corbitt.
Dr.Fettic and the other resident doctors explained the importance of preventative healthcare, which allows doctors to help patients identify minor diseases and medical problems before they become major.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for kids who don’t have a chance to see a doctor or receive health care just so that we can catch up on their health and vaccines and preventative care and make sure that we intervene at a young age if possible, when it’s most important,” explained Dr. Fettic.
Humboldt County’s Chief Nurse, Marian Tyree, was also there to help with vision and hearing screenings.
She said “I think the best part about it is some of our kids don’t have the opportunity to see a physician and for some of them to come for free is just phenomenal.”
The vision and hearing screenings are vital because an undiagnosed problem could profoundly impact a child’s learning, as would many other undiagnosed medical problems.
Social workers, Christina Garcia and Ciena Foster, were also present, helping parents fill out complicated paperwork in a timely fashion in order to take advantage of programs that can help improve living conditions and may require a lot of filing.
Garcia said that she thinks this opportunity is especially important to students and their families because “if it’s been a while they’ve had a check-up, then they get that care, but at the same time we’re seeing the parents bring them in and if there’s any resources they need we can help facilitate that and guide them the best we can.”