Getting Comfortable

Opening a school-based health center (SBHC) is an exciting time for communities. All partners are working together to meet one goal: to serve the children in the community the best way they can. Each partner is well informed and provides whatever resources it can to improve the health outcomes of the students.

One of the main goals of a quality SBHC is to become part of the fabric of the school community. We call this "institutionalizing" the health center. After operating for a couple of years, the SBHC achieves this and becomes a "well-oiled" machine. The partnership becomes comfortable and the oversight of the collaboration begins to wane. It appears that everything is under control, so everyone else can go back to their "real work." The danger is that at some point, the SBHC will need its partners again, and they may have forgotten about the SBHC. When something breaks in this well-oiled machine, the main champions of the SBHC are often its staff: the people who see the benefits every day in every child they serve. But staff being the main champions of the SBHC diminishes the message that the SBHC benefits the community.

The only way to keep this is from happening is communication. Each SBHC needs a strategic internal and external communication plan. All stakeholders and partners need to be regularly informed about the work happening at the center and the great success the center is. This is especially true when there is a leadership change at one of the partner organizations. Keeping your partners consistently involved and informed increases the number of champions for the SBHC and the likelihood that those partners can help the SBHC when something breaks. This strategy is true for all collaboratives, not just SBHCs. Collaboratives take work, especially when everyone is comfortable with the project, but that is when the partners are needed most.