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ASF rides to the rescue By Amber Fossen Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland High School students and staff can breathe a healthy sigh of relief - the school-based health center will remain open this year. With the defeat of Measure 28, AHS' school-based health clinic was slated to close in addition to 20 other similar clinics throughout the state. Thanks to $22,000 in funds secured through the Ashland Schools Foundation, the clinic will keep its doors open, but only for this year. AHS Family Nurse Practitioner Judy Blickenstaff said for now, there's relief. "This means that we have funding through June. Next year is a really big question mark. It's pretty unlikely we'll get state funding," Blickenstaff said. The measure's failure eliminated 60 percent of the clinic's financing as part of $88 million in cuts to health and human services. According to Susan Bacon, ASF interim executive director, the ASF board unanimously approved funding for the health center at its Jan. 14 board meeting. However, the board refrained from making any announcements until after the results of the election were known. "We were in discussion on how to use those funds and voted to hold off on making any official decision until after the election," Bacon said, adding that the ASF office received e-mails and phone calls supporting the decision to keep the health center open. According to Bacon, the ASF had just the right amount of funds remaining from the "Save Our Schools - Support Our Students" campaign to keep the clinic afloat - something the board felt was essential for high schoolers. "The health center deals with so much more than health issues. For some kids it's really a life line," Bacon said. AHS Principal Jeff Schlecht agreed. "It certainly increases our chances of keeping kids in school if we can keep that opened," Schlecht said. "There's a number of health issues that our students have that can be attended to by our professionals. It's our safety net for kids." Other area school-based clinics were not as fortunate. Scenic Middle and Jewett Elementary Schools' clinics located in Central Point were shuttered upon Measure 28's failure and Crater High School - also in Central Point - lost one position, leaving one half-time nurse practitioner. Blickenstaff said that due to seniority, AHS health assistant Sunee Danielson will be replaced by Karen DeVries, a former health assistant at Jewett Elementary. While the health center continues to focus on the well-being of students, administrators and health officials will need to secure funding to keep the doors from closing next year. According to ASD Business Manager Loren Luman, the district will be working toward securing funds for the clinic. "At the moment I have no commitments from any sources anywhere to keep it open," Luman said. Blickenstaff said that in addition to assisting students, her job will now include finding a stable source of funding. "It's always been a struggle to keep this place open and we're in our twelfth year now," she said. Blickenstaff said the clinic joins other school-based health centers throughout the state in a collective effort to secure federal and state grants so that individual clinics will no longer compete with each other for the same resources. "What we're trying to do is band together and do some effective grant writing," Blickenstaff said. Although the future remains uncertain, health center officials praise both the ASF and the community for keeping health services accessible to teens. "In a way I feel like the Phoenix in that we continue to rise out of the ashes," Blickenstaff said. "I am so delighted to be here and it's thanks to the ASF and the community who supported it." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -