The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) is a nonpartisan policy and program resource center at George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services. The Center's mission is to strengthen the well-being of children and youth through effective health programs and health care services in schools.
Health programs range from those that help students adopt healthy habits to those that foster a physically and emotionally healthy school environment. School-based services include physical and mental health care, dental services, screenings and referrals to community resources, as well as school-located services to support students with special needs.
The Center links educators and health professionals to the information essential to building these programs, through testing new school-connected strategies to achieve better health outcomes for children, and by promoting awareness of successful new directions in school-based programming.
Projects undertaken by the Center include:
• Helping school and health personnel assist immigrant and refugee children and their families reduce emotional and behavioral health problems through community partnerships
• Assisting a community service agency and a local department of mental health design an evaluation for their school mental health program
• Developing a policy options paper for a state considering a school-based health center initiative