School-based integrated healthcare model: how Our Mia Mia is improving health and education outcomes for children and young people

Abstract

Integrating healthcare into education settings represents a promising model to address complex health problems in disadvantaged communities through improving access to health and social services. One such example of an effective school-based health hub is the Our Mia Mia (OMM) Wellbeing Hub, located in a primary school in Nowra and servicing a community experiencing significant socioeconomic disadvantage. The efficacy of OMM rests on its success in facilitating access to services by removing the barriers of cost and transport and establishing connection to community. The OMM fosters collaborations between health professionals and educators to coordinate holistic treatment and implement appropriate student supports in a timely manner. The support of key individuals and groups, in addition to the flexibility of the model, has allowed the hub to pivot and adapt to meet the changing needs of its community, particularly as challenges pertaining to bureaucracy, financial sustainability and community mistrust have presented themselves. Future directions for the OMM hub, and the possibility of adapting and translating school-based healthcare delivery models in other disadvantaged communities, is discussed.