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The education-health connection
Healthy schools drive better learning outcomes for students and improved economic opportunity and overall well-being for adults.
Kaiser Permanente Thriving Schools takes an integrated approach to building healthy school communities by addressing the various dimensions of health: physical health, mental health, social health, and equity and access. With these dimensions as our foundation, we curate the best thinking and guidance to improve the health-related drivers of attendance for students and staff. Our programs bring together Kaiser Permanente, school districts, and education agencies to develop community-led solutions.
Thriving Schools priority areas include youth mental health and teacher and staff well-being.
High-quality care for Colorado educators
Sarah Bennett teaches second grade in the Boulder Valley School District. When she broke her wrist snowboarding, her primary goal was regaining the fine motor skills required to teach handwriting. After receiving great orthopedic care, Sarah says, “My handwriting is fantastic today.” Hear from Sarah and her surgeon, Dr. Julie Melchior, about her injury, surgery, and recovery, and how Kaiser Permanente supports Colorado educators.
Easier access to preventative care
Over 92% of Colorado school districts with Kaiser Permanente coverage participate in our workforce health programs, including on-site cancer screenings, wellness classes, and mental health support for district staff.
About 2 years ago, school districts began approaching Kaiser Permanente with an idea: flexing breast screening appointment times to fit with busy educator and staff schedules. By removing barriers to access, districts could collaborate with care teams to increase screening rates, keep staff healthier, and potentially catch disease earlier when it’s easier and more affordable to treat.
During these mammogram events, the medical offices create appointments specifically for teachers and staff, even staying open after hours or on weekends as needed. Through these events, Kaiser Permanente has completed nearly 200 additional screenings for educators from 7 large school districts since 2022.
Building resilience in Colorado classrooms
Our Thriving Schools Resilience in School Environments (RISE) program helps prepare staff to better understand and integrate social and emotional well-being into all aspects of school life. Building resilience in classrooms promotes the growth of resilience in homes and communities.
School districts and education partners develop RISE programs tailored to their specific needs. Teacher surveys from RISE schools report improved school climates, better mental health throughout school communities, and greater job satisfaction.
Since 2017, Kaiser Permanente has distributed more than $6 million in grants to support mental health in 12 Colorado school districts, with a new round of grants announced in the fall of 2023.
Watch to see how our RISE grants support Pueblo County School District 70’s work to promote social and emotional learning through a dedicated curriculum and an innovative greenhouse.
Expanding and diversifying Colorado’s teacher pipeline
During the 2022-2023 school year, 9% of open teaching positions in Colorado were left unfilled.1
The Public Education & Business Coalition’s (PEBC) Teacher Residency Program is a pilot project that aims to rebuild a severely depleted educator workforce by recruiting teachers who are representative of historically under-represented populations in districts across Colorado. In early 2023, Kaiser Permanente awarded a $1.5 million, 2-year grant to PEBC for the Teacher Residency program. Graduates are trained to integrate social and emotional well-being into classrooms to help build resilience among educators and students, efforts that align with our Thriving Schools RISE program.
Since the grant was awarded, the number of PEBC residency participants who identify as people of color has increased by 8 percentage points. Retention rates among teachers who complete the residency program are 26 percentage points higher than the national average.
Technology opens new care options for underserved students
Kaiser Permanente is committed to building partnerships with the health care “safety net” — institutions that play a critical role in delivering health care for the underserved. School-based health clinics are part of the health care safety net.
Smaller, more rural school districts may face challenges to staff every school health clinic across their footprint. Technology can help bridge the divide between underserved populations in remote locations and health care providers who are often limited in numbers, time, and geography.
Kaiser Permanente issued a 3-year, $750,00 grant to Youth Healthcare Alliance to support safety net providers that operate school-based health clinics in high-need Colorado communities. One component of this grant is the purchase of a lightweight medical cart by Sunrise Community Health, a Northern Colorado safety-net provider, that will be used to support face-to-face telehealth appointments with students attending Weld County District 6 schools.
“As an educator, Kaiser Permanente is flexible, it's easy, and it provides all the care that I need in a convenient manner that I really feel well taken care of.”
– Sarah Bennett, Boulder Valley School District teacher
Learn more about what makes Kaiser Permanente Colorado special
Air pollutants and school health
Children exposed to air pollution are more likely to develop breathing problems like asthma — one of the leading causes of school absenteeism.2 Through a 2-year, $400,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente, the City of Denver’s Love My Air campaign is expanding monitors at clinical sites, bolstering school nurse training and toolkits, and enhancing content on their app.
Health care for all that is you
Kaiser Permanente is Colorado’s leading nonprofit3 health plan and one of the state’s largest health care providers. In our integrated health care system, connected teams coordinate your care seamlessly to keep you healthy and doing what you love. It’s simple, personalized health care.
Flexible health plans for employees
Choosing the right health plan for your school district or organization is a big decision. Kaiser Permanente offers a broad choice of affordable plan options, disruption-free enrollment, and a dedicated New Member Connect team for seamless employee onboarding. With doctors and health plans working together, Kaiser Permanente delivers high-quality care and exceptional value.
Footnotes
1Colorado Department of Education, 2022-23 Educator Shortage Report.
2United States Environmental Protection Agency, Reference Guide for Indoor Air Quality in Schools, March 5, 2024.
3Kaiser Permanente Colorado is composed of the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado and the for-profit Permanente Medical Group.