PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles High School will increase Washington’s tally of school-based health centers to 37.
The Port Angeles School Board approved a memorandum of understanding with the North Olympic Healthcare Network, allowing the federally qualified community health center to provide satellite medical services at the high school one day per week.
The motion passed with a 4-1 vote during its Thursday meeting. Board director Susan Shotthafer opposed it.
During a July 8 meeting, Shotthafer said her primary concern was the health of students and that contraceptives are physically dangerous for young girls.
“How ironic it is to consider a health center that would consider prescribing carcinogenic contraceptives,” she said July 8.
“I don’t know how often they will be prescribed, but I know they will have the authority.”
After approving the memorandum, board members sought answers to questions of the center’s scope:
Can family members also receive medical care at the center? Can students obtain birth control without parental consent? Will the center provide crisis mental health care?
Family members
Shotthafer said a sentence in the memorandum was not clear: “NOHN will offer families and their students attending PASD schools healthcare services…” She said the wording could be understood to mean the health center will also provide health care to family members of students.
Board President Joshua Jones said he took the reference to mean the health center would provide medical care to students, which in turn supports the family unit.
The center will not provide services for family members of students at the high school, Jones said Friday.
“That was not the intention at all,” he said.
Birth control
Students can independently and confidentially receive birth control at the center.
Some misunderstanding arose during a conversation about the center providing contraceptives to students.
Superintendent Marc Jackson said he believed a second parent signature, in addition to a parent consenting for his or her child to use the center at the beginning of the year, would be required for a student to receive birth control.
Board Vice President Sarah Methner said, “That’s exactly what you don’t have to sign for.”
By state law, minors 13 and older can independently consent for and receive alcohol/drug abuse treatment, outpatient mental health treatment, birth control, pregnancy care and STD/HIV diagnosis and testing, as the approved memorandum states.
“But at our school site?” Jackson asked.
“Even at our school site,” Methner said. “We’re not going to start implementing policies stricter than state law.”
Behavioral health
Board member Sandy Long said she’s had a problem from the “get-go” about behavioral health services not being provided on campus.
“Can this center — if there’s an emergency or suicide — can these people ensure children will get immediate mental health care?” she said.
Methner said it’s not realistic to offer crisis care, as the center will be open only one day a week.
“This is not going to cover Susie on Thursday feeling suicidal,” Methner said.
“This is better,” she continued. “Even if it’s one day better.”
Kate Weller, chief medical officer for the North Olympic Healthcare Network (NOHN), said NOHN has an established memorandum of understanding with Peninsula Behavioral Health, which means the center can act on several options for treating a student in need of crisis services.
NOHN can refer students to a behavioral health specialist at Peninsula Behavioral Health’s downtown office, provide limited behavioral services during routine primary care visits at the high school or refer a student to another behavioral center, Weller said.
“We’re not going to be able to meet 24/7 behavioral services with a satellite program,” she said. “That’s just beyond our scope.”
Weller also noted high school nurses and counselors “know how to advocate for their students.”
Long also expressed concern that students would be waiting three to four weeks for an appointment.
“That’s just a fallacy,” Jones said Friday.
After approving the memorandum, the school board heard one public comment. Ingrid Carmean took the podium for three minutes to express her support for the school-based health center.
“Something happened Wednesday,” Carmean said. “I was standing at Planned Parenthood, and a young boy came up to me and said, ‘May I ask you a question?’ ”
The boy continued, “My mother had an abortion. She was going to have a baby, but it died, and she didn’t want to watch the baby die. Did she do the wrong thing?” Carmean said.
Carmean told him, “She did the best thing she could at that time.”
Why would he come up to a complete stranger who couldn’t check on him later and ask, “Are you OK?” Carmean said.
“That’s what a school-based health center could do, rather than a stranger,” she said.
Weller said NOHN does not yet have an estimate of when the center will open at the high school.
The board’s next step will be evaluating the success of the school-based health center at its one-year mark, Jones said.
“Now that we’ve authorized the MOU, it’s between the NOHN and our administrative staff to make this happen.”
View the full memorandum of understanding on Board Docs at https://tinyurl.com/ybyhtqk7.
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Reporter Sarah Sharp can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or at ssharp@peninsuladailynews.com.
