The goal of offering basic health care in six Omaha schools will have to wait until the 2010-11 school year.

Several of the city’s major health systems will be involved in the school-based health centers. But, before the centers can open, the schools need some basic upgrades.

For example, an exam room must have a sink. And there must be a dedicated counter space for lab materials. Because the schools don’t have dedicated exam space now, those modifications are needed.

“We’re not building new wings,” Jeanee Weiss explained to school board members Monday. Weiss is the planning and pilot specialist for the Omaha Public Schools.

She’s working directly with Building Bright Futures and health systems, including the Boys Town National Research Hospital, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC Physicians, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, Creighton University Medical Center and the OneWorld and Charles Drew health centers.

Originally, the plan was to open the first of the school health centers in the fall and have all six operational by this month.

When the centers open in August, nurse practitioners will provide acute care (for ailments such as ear infections) and chronic condition management (for conditions such as diabetes). The practitioners will be linked to each school’s partner medical institution. That institution will process forms as well.

All students attending Franklin, Indian Hill, Kellom or Kennedy Elementary, Spring Lake Magnet Center or Blackburn Alternative High School will be served, whether they have health insurance or not. The centers are designed to be a stopgap, said OPS health supervisor Sharon Wade. Families will be encouraged and assisted in finding a “medical home” — a medical professional who can serve all types of needs over the long term.

Asked by school board members, Wade said that no reproductive health component is planned for the clinics.

Contact the writer:

444-1037, michaela.saunders@owh.com

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