b'SBHCs Expand Care, Remain OpenSchools in Washington and Yamhill counties may be virtual this fall, but the health care delivered at Virginia Garcias School-Based Health Centers (SBHC) is not. When youre working in pediatrics, there are times when face-to-face visits are the only way you can tell whats really going on, said Tera Roberts, associate medical director for SBHCs.When COVID-19 hit Oregon, Virginia Garcia converted nearly all clinic appointments to telehealth. However, our SBHC staff made the decision to stay open and see patients (symptom free from COVID-19)even expanding services to include new infants and their post-partum mothers. Recently, the mother of a toddler reported that her daughter had a fungal infection in her finger. In reviewing her chart, Roberts became alarmed. Its very unusual for a child that young to have a fungal infection, said Roberts. We scheduled her for an in-person appointment, where it was discovered that she in fact had a staph infection in her finger that had lingered for a month or more. She was treated successfully with antibiotics.Our SBHCs are adjacent to schools and serve children ages 0-19 in the district. Our primary care clinics can refer patients to SBHCs, minimizing exposure in the larger clinics during the pandemic.SBHCs continue to provide well-child checkups and vaccinations for children and teenagers, and reproductive health care as well as mental health and medical services, explained Alice Hamilton, pediatric nurse practitioner at Tigard SBHC.We look at the whole child. #JointheFight Support our School-Based Health Centers today: healthy kids make a healthy future.'