Funding Medical Training
In three years at Barnwell Elementary, Marty Schmidt has treated her share of boo-boos, dispensed medicine, and consoled many a student who just felt yucky for medical assistant programs. "There's no such thing as a typical day," said Schmidt, a medical assistant who estimates she attends to 25-30 injuries daily and doles out numerous prescribed medications. "Some days are unbelievably crazy."
Schmidt and Julie Lubesky, an LPN, are aides in medical assistant programs at the Barnwell clinic, funded by the PTA and school money that can be used at the discretion of Principal Deborah Reeves. The north Fulton campus is one of 36 schools that staff clinics part time or full time this way.
The county's PTA councils are asking the Fulton County Board of Education to pay for aides this fall. The proposed budget, which will be finalized in June, includes a $ 1.4 million expenditure to put aides in elementary, middle and high schools.
The trained workers wouldn't be performing any controversial duties, like dispensing condoms or providing information on abortion. Rather, their roles would be clear-cut --- assisting children and relieving the staff of duties it shouldn't be performing, advocates say. Until recently, local school PTAs paid for clinic workers, both full time and part time. Then the state and national PTAs issued a directive telling their affiliates to stop funding the positions. Local schools such as Barnwell that consider the clinic vital began using operational funds, but some PTAs still contribute, said Kathy Swahn, co-president of the North Fulton Council of PTAs. In October, the north Fulton council decided not to fund any positions this fall, and its members have campaigned to get state and local district funding. Overtures to the Legislature failed this session but will be attempted again. "Ultimately, it's a statewide issue," said Linda Schultz, the north Fulton council's vice president of legislative affairs. "We are asking Fulton school officials to step in and fund the positions" for the coming school year. Board members, though, face a money crunch. The $ 458 million proposed budget is $ 43 million more than what the district expects to generate in fiscal year 1999. Board members and school officials must balance the spending plan before it is OK'd in June. An option to fund part-time aides may be considered, but parents and campus administrators say that will not be enough.
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