But we can't fund centers based on need alone. The need must be translated into comprehensive programming, and the provider must have the capacity to carry out the programs or at least make needed programs very accessible to students. The voices of parents, faculty, and the students themselves are playing central roles in corroborating statistical evidence of need. Unfortunately, need has outstripped available dollars, forcing state health departments to make hard choices. Through trial and error, they've come to rely on a few criteria that they've often found can determine the success or failure of a school-based health center.
Every community is needy.
So it has been helpful to have clear priorities from the State on what problems need to be focused on first. For example, the State has set bench marks for preventing teen pregnancy and youth involvement with alcohol and other drugs. New York State examines basic community indicators of health and social need such as immunization rates by age 2, teen pregnancy, infant mortality, the percentage of children on Medicaid, shortages of physicians, the percentage of students eligible for free school lunches, and high school drop-out rates. But communities and states around the country are finding that these indicators are not enough to fully illustrate a community's need. Lynn Noyes, supervisor of the School and Adolescent Health Division of the Department of Public Health and Addiction Services in Connecticut, has found that anecdotal data from the community are essential because the location of a school and the accompanying indicators for that neighborhood may often be misleading.