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Gov. Bob Riley announced a plan Thursday to expand free health screenings to more schools across the state in hopes that healthy students will be better learners.
Riley said the KidCheck Health Initiative builds on screenings that began several years ago in Bibb and Blount counties and recently expanded to schools in four more counties.
The Alabama Rural Action Commission will pick at least eight more schools across the state for pilot programs this fall and plans to add more in the future.
Riley and state Superintendent of Education Joe Morton said healthy students are better able to learn, and in the long run, that will help more students graduate from high school.
The Alabama Power Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield's Alabama Child Caring Foundation and the nursing programs at several Alabama colleges are helping organize the health screenings.
"What we are talking about today will cost nothing in taxpayer dollars," Riley said.
At a typical screening, students who have their parents' permission will go to different stations where a variety of health factors will be checked, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, vision, oral health and scoliosis.
A report on the screenings will go to the parents. Students who need to see a doctor and who don't have insurance or Medicaid coverage will be covered through the Alabama Child Caring Foundation.
"We are not going to find something that's a problem for a family and then say to mom and dad, 'Good luck,"' Riley said.
The existing health screening program checked 15,000 students last year, Riley said.
He described a health screening in Dallas County in west Alabama, where the check found the real problem with a student who had been placed in special education.
"He was in special ed because he couldn't see. No one realized he had this sight problem until he went through the screening process. You change kids lives in a way that really does have a profound effect for the rest of their lives," Riley said.
On the Net:
Alabama Rural Action Commission: http://www.alabamaruralaction.com
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