Sometimes kids just need someone to listen, said Cormekia Tanter, a senior at Jennings High School.
“There are a lot of kids who have been through a lot of things in their lives – me being one of them,” Tanter said. “The SPOT is a great place to come because you know that they got your back no matter what you’re going through, no matter what the situation may be.”
The SPOT (Supporting Positive Opportunities with Teens) is a fully-functioning health center embedded within Jennings High School. Providing free medical services – including reproductive health care – is just one part of what they do. There is also a full-time mental health professional and case manager on hand. One of Tanter’s favorite places to land is the center’s cozy room meant to relieve stress, she said.
Her other favorite part about the SPOT is this: “I like to see the kids come here. They walk in with a mad face but walk out as happy as can be.”
On Friday, April 28, the SPOT will receive the St. Louis American Foundation’s Health Advocacy Organization of the Year at the Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon, an event that raises money for college scholarships through the St. Louis American Foundation.
The SPOT in Jennings opened in 2015, not long after Michael Brown Jr. was shot and killed in nearby Ferguson.
“In our needs assessment, we found some of the kids we were working with were describing high levels of stress,” said Dr. Sarah Garwood, medical director of the SPOT. “Part of the reason why we became interested in working with the school district on a trauma-informed care approach was because of that.”
The center is the brainchild of Washington University in St. Louis, and its main location is located at 4169 Laclede Ave. (first floor) in St. Louis’ Central West End. When staff looked at their data of who is receiving services, one zip code stood out.
“When we looked at the number of visits from different parts of the city and county, the 63136 zip code happened to have the highest number of visits,” said Garwood, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine.
There was also a high number of births to teen mothers in 63136, she said.
The next step was to find a location within that zip code that would remove transportation and other barriers for teens living in 63136 who could use SPOT services. While that zip code overlaps three North St. Louis County school districts (Jennings, Riverview Gardens and Hazelwood), they decided on Jennings.
They approached then-Superintendent Tiffany Anderson at Jennings School District, who was very supportive of the idea, Garwood said.
The district spent $60,000 converting two classrooms into the health clinic. The clinic’s operations are funded through various grants. It’s open two days a week. The high school has 750 students, and about 460 of them have consent to receive services.
All the students who come to the clinic are screened for depression, substance use, access to dental care and symptoms of trauma, Garwood said.
“Based on results of the screening test, we try to link kids into further care,” Garwood said. “So if we see a teen who screens positive for depression, we link them into mental health services or access to other services if those are needed.”
Already, the SPOT has improved the students’ academic achievement, said Rhonda Key, principal at Jennings High. Last year, the school’s students earned 91 percent of the total points on the state’s assessment test.
“We are an urban school with 100 percent free or reduced lunch population, so the proof is in the pudding,” Key said. “The SPOT has taken away the excuses and removed the barriers that stop our children from being in the classrooms. And that production is seen in our academic achievement. Last year we had 100 percent graduation. I don’t think that could have happened without the SPOT.”
The most common thing that Key hears from students is that the SPOT is a safe place.
“They say, ‘When I come here, I’m not judged,’” Key said. “That’s powerful.”
Tickets for the 17th Annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 28 at the Frontenac Hilton are $750 per table for VIP/Corporate seating and $50 each/$500 table for Individual seating. To order tickets, call 314-533-8000 or visit www.stlamerican.com.
