A new partnership between Xenia Community Schools and Dayton Children’s will begin during the 2021-2022 school year that will set the foundation for a school-based healthcare option for XCS families.
“We are excited about this new partnership, and what it could mean to our students and families to offer real-world healthcare right in our buildings,” said Dr. Gabe Lofton, Superintendent for Xenia Community Schools. “Having the support and expertise of a world-class healthcare organization like Dayton Children’s is everything we could have hoped for when we began exploring this concept, and I am thrilled with the direction we are headed.”
The alliance between XCS and Dayton Children’s is the result of their joint acceptance into the Nationwide Children’s Hospital School Health Learning Collaborative. As part of the Collaborative, staff from XCS and Dayton Children’s will commit to a total of nine months evaluating the needs and identifying gaps in coverage for children in XCS. Following this assessment, in March 2022, the partnership will receive up to $100,000 in funding to implement the school-based care model during the current school year.
“Feedback from the selection committee was that our application demonstrated strong collaborative planning, and that tells us we are starting from a good place,” said Dr. Jonathan Thackeray, Chief Medical Officer of Population Health at Dayton Children’s. “While we do not know the specifics of what the model will look like in the end, we cannot wait to begin the process of finding new solutions to meet the healthcare needs of Xenia students.”
Nationwide Children’s has a robust school-based health program in Franklin County and surrounding areas and aims to help other health care partners in the state and local school districts establish a school-based health program that meets the needs of students in their respective communities through the School Health Learning Collaborative. Dayton Children’s and XCS are one of 12 recipients accepted into the Collaborative.
“Meeting the needs of all students, keeping them healthy, thriving, and in our classrooms is a key aspect of our Destination 2025 strategic plan which involves care of the “whole child — and this initiative is a big step in the right direction when it comes to making that goal a reality,” said Lofton.