Local schools have received notice that the Barren River Health Department will not be able to continue the grant that has provided school nurses for many of the area school districts, including the Russellville Independent School District. As a result of this announcement, the program with BRADD will end on Dec. 31.

Realizing how vitality important our school nurses are to our students and families, both RISD Superintendent Bart Flener and Logan County Superintendent Paul Mullins began the process to investigate the best option to maintain school health services in our schools.

Flener has announced that on Jan, 1, 2020, the Russellville Independent School District will begin a new partnership with Med Center Health in order to continue providing these services to our students.

In addition to supplying school nurses at each campus, a licensed advanced nurse practitioner will be available to work with the nurses to provide a higher level of advanced care when needed. Services provided through the nurse practitioner will be either available at the school sites or through the use of telemedicine. In order for this transition to occur smoothly and to prevent any gaps in student health care, a few things must be addressed:

1.A new Student Health Services Consent Form must be completed on each student in order to receive services from the nurses once we return to school in Jan. 2020. 

2.A Medical Information Release Authorization must be completed in order for the Barren River Health Dept. to release the existing student health records to the Med Center Health Providers. This will allow the new providers access to what is already on file and what conditions a child may have, creating a smoother transition for all. 

Parents are urged to complete and return these forms to your child’s school as soon as possible so that they may be processed in a timely fashion. 

From our Med Center Health Team:

Med Center Health is the most comprehensive health care provider in south central Kentucky. We are uniquely positioned to provide a broad spectrum of health services across the region, and we are excited about this opportunity to provide school-based health services to the students of Russellville Independent Schools.

The Russellville Independent School System welcomes Med Center Health to our campuses. We look forward to the many services that can be provided to our students, our families and our community.