Two health centers in the Worcester public schools, at Worcester East Middle School and Norrback Avenue Elementary School, were closed for the entire school year. Four others — at Doherty Memorial High School, North High School, Burncoat Middle/High School and Worcester Technical High School — were closed for portions of the past school year.
“We really had trouble this year recruiting nurse practitioners,” said Dr. Michele Pici, medical director at Great Brook Valley Health Center, which administers the centers at Worcester East Middle, Norrback Avenue, North High, Burncoat High and Worcester Tech.
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“We’ve had vacancies at school-based health centers over the years, but we’ve never been in the position to have vacancies for so long,” said Leah Gallivan, who oversees school-based health centers for Great Brook Valley. “We’ve never been in a position where we couldn’t run the centers.”
The center at Doherty High School, which switched from control of UMass Memorial to Family Health Center before school began, did not open until March. Family Health Center spent that time getting the center certified with the state, according to Sarah Rulnick, manager of its school-based health centers.
In all, of the 11 school-based health centers that could potentially operate in public schools in Worcester, only five were open for the entire year. A brand-new school-based health center opened late this school year at Elm Park Elementary.
In response to the difficulty they had finding and retaining nurses, Great Brook Valley officials have decided they will only operate four school-based health centers in Worcester next year: at North High School, Burncoat High School and Middle School, Worcester Tech and Roosevelt Elementary School. The centers at Worcester East Middle and Norrback Avenue will not reopen, at least not under Great Brook Valley control.
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