Provide health assessments, screening services, referral and follow-up of diagnosed or suspected health problems, medication administration, immunization, health record maintenance and review, emergency health services and health education.

• Promote improved student health,
• Support academic achievement, and
• Decrease student involvement in drug/alcohol abuse, suicide/homicide, and other forms of risk-taking behavior.

Provide a full range of health and social services to children in schools designated high-risk. Full Service Schools engage in partnerships with private and non-profit community-based health and social service provides.

Prevention, intervention and emergency school-based health services are provided everyday to children and adolescents attending six of Pinellas County’s schools: Northeast High School, Meadowlawn Middle School, John M. Sexton Elementary School, Lealman Intermediate School, Bayside High School, and Clearwater Intermediate School. The six schools selected are based on several factors: 1) a high percentage of free or reduced lunches; 2) a combination of elementary, middle and high school students; 3) high numbers of youth with significant discipline issues and histories of risky behaviors; and 4) high incidences of chronic health problems. All six schools will offer Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) or Registered Nurse (RN) services such as daily medications, basic school health services, Body Mass Index (BMI) and vision screening. Two of the six schools ( Northeast High and Meadowlawn Middle) offer additional Physician or Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) Services such as pregnancy or STD testing, medical assessments, physical examinations, diabetes education, and nutritional counseling.

Health service staff working in the schools enhances health within the schools and communities by providing health appraisals, nursing assessments, nutrition assessments, periodic health screenings, health counseling, referral and follow-up of suspected or confirmed health problems, emergency health services and promoting activities to reduce risk-taking behaviors. The health service staff also collaborates with parents, teachers, mental health staff, and other health care providers to develop care plans, identify available health resources and identify the need for health referrals to address specific health problems discovered through health screenings and assessments.

The mission of the School Health Services Cluster Initiative is to assess, protect and promote the health of children and adolescents, helping to assure that they are healthy in the classroom and ready to learn.

The School Health Services Cluster Initiative is a partnership between Pinellas County Health Department, Pinellas County School System, Juvenile Welfare Board, and Northeast High School administration.

Through a grant with the Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County, the Pinellas County Health Department administers the Screening of Eyes and Ears of Kids (S.E.E.K) Program. The program provides hearing and screening to children zero to five years who participate in the school readiness program. Non-school readiness children may also be screened if they are present at the screening site (preschools, family childcare homes or community settings). The goal of the program is to detect the hearing or vision concerns in children as early as possible in order to ensure they are ready to learn by the time they enter kindergarten.