School-Based Health Center

Health center open to Thornton High School and Bollman Tech students

Adams 12 Five Star Schools, in partnership with Kids First Health Care, is pleased to offer a school-based health center at Thornton High School. The clinic is open during school hours and is available for Thornton High School and Bollman Technical Education Center students. 

School Based Health Centers are high quality models for delivering medical care to low-income, uninsured, underserved, and at-risk school-age children and youth. Currently, there are 2,315 SBHCs located in 49 states throughout the United States. Research has documented that school-based health centers positively impact educational success by:

• Improving student health status
• Reducing absenteeism
• Decreasing discipline referrals
• Increasing parental involvement
• Improving readiness to learn

Enrolling

For more information and for Thornton High and Bollman Tech students to enroll, visit the health clinic page on Thornton High School's website.

Building a Health Clinic in a School

The addition of a School Based Health Center (SBHC) at Thornton High School is a result of generous grant funding.

The Colorado State Legislature has taken notice of the benefits of SBHCs and in 2013 the General Assembly voted to invest $5.3 million annually to fund new and manage existing centers. In addition, the Colorado Health Institute released a report in April of 2015 assessing the need for SBHC services in Colorado. They found that urban schools with the highest needs are primarily located in Denver and Adams counties. Thornton High School is listed on their Colorado’s 100 Highest-Need Urban Schools.

The Five Star Schools Office of Student Engagement Initiatives secured grant funding to open a SBHC at Thornton High School by partnering with the following organizations:  

1. Kids First, a local medical non-profit, serves as the primary fundraiser and as the pass-through organization for funding. Kids First provides staffing for the SBHC. Kids First established the first SBHC in Colorado in Adams County School District 14 in 1978, which was the second SBHC established in the country.
2. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment provides operating funds for the SBHC for a period of four years. This four years of funding will allow Kids First to create ongoing and sustainable operational funding through Medicaid.
3. The City of Thornton (via the Community Development Block Grant) provided $220,000 in capital for construction.
4. The Colorado Health Foundation committed $300,000 for construction.
5. Caring for Colorado provided $50,000 for construction and architectural design.  

The construction and operation of the SBHC is completely grant funded and does not use funds from the district operations budget or bond funding.