For many families, getting children ready for school goes beyond buying notebooks, backpacks and other supplies.
It also means scheduling physical exams, updating immunizations, completing dental exams and making sure children have access to medical care.
As the new school year approaches, schools and health care providers across the St. Louis region are expanding efforts to help families get those tasks done before classes begin.
Three federally qualified health centers — Affinia Healthcare, Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers and Family Care Health Centers — recently launched STL First Bell Health, a collaborative initiative offering school and sports physicals, childhood immunizations, behavioral health screenings and other preventive services.
The partnership also includes outreach events that provide dental education, enrollment assistance, referrals to primary care providers and connections to community resources.
“Every child deserves the opportunity to start the school year healthy and ready to succeed,” leaders of the participating health centers said in a statement. “By working together and leveraging both our health center locations and mobile health units, we can provide earlier access to essential health care services, reduce barriers to care, and help families meet school health requirements before the first day of class.”
St. Louis Public Schools is making a similar push through its Ready for Day One campaign. Students can receive school and sports physicals, immunizations and vision screenings while families can also get enrollment assistance, transportation information and connections to community resources. District officials describe the events as a one-stop opportunity to help students arrive prepared for the first day of class.
According to the Missouri Primary Care Association, federally qualified health centers provide more than 2.4 million patient visits each year to more than 628,000 Missourians. The clinics operate in every Missouri county and St. Louis. They offer medical, dental and behavioral health services regardless of a patient’s ability to pay.
Nearly 93% of patients served by Missouri’s federally qualified health centers live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and 17% are uninsured, according to the association. For many families, those clinics provide routine medical care that would otherwise be out of reach.
The effort comes at a time when childhood vaccination rates have slipped locally.
An NBC News analysis of state immunization data found the percentage of St. Louis kindergarten students meeting required vaccination standards fell from 91.6% during the 2010-11 school year to 75.9% in 2024-25. The analysis also found exemption rates increased while measles, mumps and rubella vaccination coverage dropped below levels public health experts generally associate with strong community protection.
“If you’re not compliant with your immunizations, you should not be enrolled in school,” Amber Boleyjack, director of nursing at St. Louis Public Schools, told NBC.