On August 26, 2016 the Los Nietos School District’s annual student health screenings began at the Los Nietos Middle School “S.T.E.A.M.” academy. All seventh and eighth grade students had their height, weight, and blood pressure taken today by doctors and medical residents from PIH Health, school health clerks, and the District’s parent health advocates, “Promotoras de Salud in Action”. Within the next two weeks, the District’s three elementary schools will also be conducting health screenings with all first, third, and fifth grade students.
The health screenings are part of the comprehensive “Healthy Los Nietos” health collaborative, which includes PIH Health Hospital, the Los Nietos School District, the Department of Public Health, “Promotoras de Salud in Action”, the City of Santa Fe Springs, AltaMed, and the LA County Department of Public Health to name a few members. Joining in the collaborative this year are the medical residents from PIH Health Hospital-Downey as well a students from the Physician Assistant’s program of Southern California University of Health Sciences. The health screenings have been an integral teaching opportunity for medical residents to gain experiences working with students of various ages that will help them become more effective and responsive doctors in the hospital setting based on their experiences working with students in the Los Nietos School District.
Students will have their Body Mass Index (BMI) taken and any health scores that are elevated will be re-checked by the doctors present and their parents will be notified. The health screenings have been conducted for the past four years and have become an excellent example of how a community partnership can maximize benefits for the participating agencies as well as for the student participants.