I was a school nurse, and I can tell you that I sent many, many letters to parents telling them about problems and recommending that they take their children to a doctor. I know that many families never followed up. |
In Brandon, everybody kind of owns the school. |
It's a very complicated subject. There are so many issues involved. |
Many of them also have other issues including a lack of transportation. Parents may have to miss time from work to take their child to the doctor and that can be an issue for a low-income family as well. |
Our children in poverty are eligible for Medicaid if their parents have signed them up. A routine physical may be a money issue for some people, but we have the Delaware Healthy Children's Program that supplements Medicaid for families within 200 percent [of the $19,350 that has been set as the poverty level for a family of four]. It's one of the most generous in the country, and kids who are eligible get free medical services. |
We just didn't want to have an inner-city school-type situation. |