Score 1 for Health Internationally Recognized
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (June 10, 2008) - Score 1 for Health, a health promotion and disease prevention program for elementary-aged children, was one of only four programs recognized internationally by the Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH), a non-profit organization that promotes health through partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions.
CCPH is a growing network of over 1,800 communities and campuses across North America and increasingly the world that are collaborating to promote health through service-learning, community-based participatory research, broad-based coalitions and other partnership strategies. The Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Annual Awards, announced at the Community-University Exposition Conference in Victoria, British Columbia, recognize exemplary partnerships that build on each other's strengths to improve higher education, civic engagement and the overall health of communities.
Score 1 for Health, sponsored by Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and the Deron Cherry Foundation, was one of three honorable mention winners. Score 1 provides health-care screenings and health-care referrals each year to more than 12,000 urban-core elementary children. Now in its 16th year, the partnership spans the entire Greater Kansas City area, including schools in both Kansas and Missouri.
"We are extremely honored to receive this award," said Annette Campbell, director of Score 1 for Health. "The intent of the CCPH Award is to highlight the power and potential of community-campus partnerships. In so many university communities, engagement is temporary and usually for the benefit of the university. We are proud of the long-term relationship that KCUMB and Score 1 have developed with the Kansas City community and look forward to continuing to benefit Kansas City children."
Score 1 for Health focuses on schools where children are more likely to be at high risk for illness and decreased health-care access, based on the level of the school's participation in the federal school lunch program. Health screenings are conducted by professional medical, nursing, dental and other allied health students under the direction of clinical faculty from academic medical, dental and nursing centers.
When abnormal physical findings are noted, children may be referred immediately to a health-care provider or be re-screened. Score 1 personnel track referrals and ensure that students are seen by a health-care provider whenever possible. The program also provides valuable clinical training for medical, nursing, dental and other allied health students, providing future health-care providers with a strong sense of community and the precepts of community health. The experience is interdisciplinary, emphasizing the importance of health-care teams in the delivery of high-quality health care to the underserved.
About Community-Campus Partnerships for Health: Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) is a nonprofit organization that promotes health through partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions. Founded in 1996, CCPH is a growing network of over 1,800 communities and campuses across North America and increasingly the world that are collaborating to promote health through service-learning, community-based participatory research, broad-based coalitions and other partnership strategies. These partnerships are powerful tools for improving higher education, civic engagement and the overall health of communities.
About Score 1 for Health: Sponsored by Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and the Deron Cherry Foundation, Score 1 for Health works to impact the health of Kansas City's most vulnerable citizens through free in-school screenings, preventive health education and identifying resources for treatment.
