New collaboration in town

Solano County has been nationally recognized for the care of its children, receiving such awards as the Counties Care for Kids from the National Association of Counties in 2006. But there is still work to be done, and Vallejo is taking another step forward with the development of a new school-based health center, at Elsa Widenmann Elementary School in north Vallejo. The new clinic is a collaboration among the United Way of the Bay Area (UWBA), the S.H. Cowell Foundation, the Solano Community Foundation, the Vallejo City Unified School District (VCUSD) and the North Vallejo Collaborative.

The only existing school-based health center in Solano County, at Annie Pennycook Elementary School in east Vallejo, has one examining room and reception area. The new facility will have three exam rooms, a conference room, and the advantage of being more geographically accessible to all students of the VCUSD and its families. “The new clinic should be able to catch more people,” says Vanita Finney, coordinator of student health services for the district of Vallejo. “The second home for children is the school, so it makes sense to have a clinic at a school.” North Vallejo is also a hub, she adds, with its number of schools, boys and girls clubs, fire and recreation departments and other services.

Finney anticipates the clinic will serve 250 children in its first year, providing immunizations, physicals, sick child care and treatment, lab services, health and illness prevention education, dental screenings, enrollment in subsidized health insurance programs and referrals to community support agencies. It will be staffed by the school district’s nurse practitioner and health technician; physicians from Kaiser, Touro and the county have volunteered, and the Pennycook clinic will remain open.

As its fiscal sponsor, the Solano Community Foundation will receive donations toward the center’s development and operation. The center has received a grant from UWBA and in-kind donations from the North Vallejo Collaborative, but the Cowell Foundation grant will be released when the school district has raised the matching $130,000. Those necessary funds hadn’t been raised in time for the clinic’s originally scheduled opening in January 2007. As of November 2006, “we’re down to $22,000,” Finney says, adding that they have been talking with other potential investors. “Trying to find those last dollars has been our challenge.”

Once all funds are in hand, construction will begin. The modular unit will take about six months to build. The projected opening is now September 2007, “or October at the latest,” says Finney. “We’re thinking positive.”
Tax-deductible donations for the clinic can be made through the Solano Community Foundation; call (707) 399-3846 or visit solanocf.org for more information. —A.C.

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