With the idea of school-based health centers taking root across the country, CHC recognized the value of giving kids and their families access to medical, dental and behavioral health care right where kids spend most of their time – in school. Our first school-based health center opened in 1993 with Nurse Practitioner Julie Gabbard. The model immediately gained support from parents, school leaders and children and spread to middle and high schools in Middletown throughout the 90s. Today, schools count on CHC for primary medical, behavioral health, and/or dental care – or some combination of the three – in nearly 200 schools across the state. In many communities, a child may go from kindergarten through high school graduation having always had access to a school-based health center.
