Healthcare Accessibility In Schools Affected By Income

Giselle De Leon, Walter Payton College Preparatory, Fall 2024  Adequate healthcare is an ongoing issue that students face due to concerns of cost or distance. They lack the help they need inside and outside of school. If the gaps in healthcare among students in schools aren’t discussed or researched further, Chicago will continue to face major issues of accessibility,  risks of death, and illnesses.   “In Chicago, only 36 percent of parents with low household income reported being in better health, compared to 57 percent of parents with low to middle income and 75 percent of parents with high income, according to a survey released by Ann & Robert H. (Lurie).”   ( Lurie Children, 2020 ) .  There are many variables, such as students' race, where they live, and their family’s income, connected to the type of healthcare they have access to in school. Students who don’t have the privilege to have healthcare access in their schools are excluded from healthcare opportunities and their rights. "Fewer than half of U.S. public schools have a full-time nurse and even fewer have a bricks-and-mortar clinic" ( Regional Education Laboratory Program, 2021 ). This gap can lead to an increase in health risks among people who don’t have access to healthcare, eventually leading to increased death rates in the population.  Nurse shortages are a barrier that many schools face. Aidan O’Dowd-Ryan, a science teacher at Walter Payton College Prep, states that “ When students are sick, they are either going to miss school and then fall behind or, if they show up even when they're sick, perform well below what they are capable of.” Students having health issues may want to seek help at school, but if the nurse or staff aren’t there to help them, this will lead to them not attending school or facing the consequences of health disparities. Mary Soeding, a nurse at Walter Payton College Prep, adds that having an “appropriate nursing staff is connected to better academic growth and attendance. More nurses help student retention.”  The decline of nurses in each school cannot only have health effects among the schools population, but can also have detrimental effects on students' academics.  Healthcare will remain an issue until the government can take action to provide enough funding and give resources to schools to be able to implement healthcare services in schools. Sources:  Aidan O’Dowd-Ryan, science teacher at Walter Payton Mary Soeding, nurse at Walter Payton https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/briefs/health-income-poverty-we-could-help https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/rel/Products/Region/west/Blog/100005