Over two weeks in early June, Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) health care staff hosted district-wide school physical opportunities. Hundreds of middle and high school aged children attended to get their mandatory sports physicals, vision and hearing tests, and confirm their immunizations were up to date. This was a fantastic opportunity for children and families to get prepared for the upcoming school year.
Doctors for Healthy Communities (DHC) volunteers attended several dates of the two week program. DHC President Muhammad Babar spoke to Wave 3 News, saying “You can imaging that a kid who needs eyeglasses, is still under-diagnosed, and it is affecting their studies. Similarly, immunizations are so important that if kids aren’t having immunizations they’re catching these infections, they’re staying at home, they’re not able to participate in school so they have to catch up.”
DHC Board Member and JCPS District Health Manager Eva Stone was on hand throughout the initiative, and DHC Executive Director (and registered nurse) Debbie Harper made several visits as well.
Nearly 19,000 JCPS students are behind on immunizations, so events like these are vital to improving public health.
To end the event, DHC provided lunch from Subway for volunteers on Friday the 16th.
To see additional coverage of these physicals, visit Louisville Public Media, Wave 3 News, and WDRB.
