Thank goodness for federal funds from Obama administration

Students and educators at Lake City High School near Florence have 500,000 reasons to thank the Obama administration's Department of Health and Human Services. Despite state leaders' efforts to keep millions in federal grants and other funds from flowing into the state, one grant has made it through.

Last month, Lake City High School and the school’s health clinic known as Health Connections, were notified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that their grant request for $500,000 was approved.
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Florence District 3 district and Lake City High were the only school among 45 South Carolina selected for the grants, which were issued under the Affordable Health Care Act, Passed in March 2010, the act provides $200 million in funding from 2010-2013 to address important capital improvements and support the expansion of services at hundreds of school-based health centers across the country.

The facilities aren’t all at schools, but all are similar: they provide health screenings, health promotion, and disease prevention activities. At Lake City High, they also provide a place for students and faculty with acute or chronic illnesses to be treated and have medication administered. Health Connections features examine rooms, offices and a handicap-accessible bathroom.

“Because of the high poverty level of our community many of our students have no transportation or funds for appropriate health care that we could provide access to during school hours,” former Florence School District 3 superintendent Beth Wright said in a letter included with the grant proposal.

Congratulations to the students and educators of Florence 3.