About

History

The first Connecticut comprehensive school-based health center, the Body Shop, was established in 1982. The Body Shop is still in operation, meeting students' health needs attending New Haven's Wilbur Cross High School.

The health center was created in partnership with the New Haven Board of Education, the Fair Haven Community Health Clinic, Yale-New Haven Hospital Adolescent Medicine Department and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A few years later, the City of Bridgeport established the first state-funded SBHC.

What is a School-Based Health Center?

Connecticut's School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) are comprehensive primary health care facilities licensed as outpatient clinics or as hospital satellites. The SBHCs are located within or on school grounds and serve students in grades pre-K-12. Multi-disciplinary teams of pediatric and adolescent health specialists staff the health centers, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, social workers, physicians and in some cases, dentists and dental hygienists.

A school-based health center is not the same as the school nurse's office. School nurses and SBHCs work together, and school nurses often refer students to SBHCs because they can treat and resolve student health problems. All SBHC services are confidential. Parents must sign a Parent Permission Form for students to receive benefits. SBHCs can also bill Medicaid, HUSKY A & B, and private commercial health insurance plans for services provided to students covered by these health plans.