HEALS’ provides free dental care:

• Preventive care, including cleanings, x-rays, fluoride, sealants, and periodontal care
• Restorative care, including fillings, root canals, pulpectomy, extractions, space maintenance, SS crowns, etc.
• Dental hygiene education presentations at each HEALS school.

HEALS’ Social Services provides:

• Crisis counseling with children and families
• Getting, and keeping, children on health insurance
• Helping adults with medical and dental referrals, job counseling, family counseling, locating community resources

HEALS’ staff are educators, providing:

• Education and management of chronic diseases-asthma, diabetes, sickle cell, etc.
• Social skills, Anger management, Nutrition and weight management, bullying
• Safety in the neighborhood and at school
• HEALS Lite, a program teaching nutrition and exercise to encourage our children to lead healthy lives

According to the National Education Association's Health Information Network, more than 11.5 million children from working families in the United States do not have health insurance. An even greater number of children from low-income, single parent homes lack access to medical care. While statistics show that a majority of these children live in predominantly African-American neighborhoods, the Hispanic population in the South is growing quickly. According to the 2000 Census there are 75,830 Hispanics in Alabama, three times the number reported in 1990. Hispanics make up 1.9 percent of the total population in the state. Many of these children, not born in the United States, are not eligible for federal health and dental insurance programs.

Without health insurance, common childhood illnesses often go untreated and can impair a child’s growth and development. More serious illnesses or disabilities may never get proper treatment at all. Lack of transportation, cultural barriers, and all too often parental apathy continue to compound the problems facing some of HEALS’ most needy children. Having access to health and dental services at the school has proven to dissolve many of the barriers that keep children from receiving adequate and consistent health care.

School-based health clinics provide blend medical care with preventive and psychosocial services to children and their families in low-income communities. “Data proves that school-based health centers are effective and well-received among parents and health professionals.” (NEA Health Information Network) “School is maybe the last U.S. institution with broad spectrum penetration, reaching most children and their families in a way unrivaled by anything but television.” (Shearer, 1997)

Health Establishments at Local Schools (HEALS), Inc. vision is to break the cycle of poverty by keeping children in school, providing the much needed health and dental care that they might not otherwise receive, teaching parents to make better life decisions, and becoming a change agent in the lives of the underprivileged poor of Madison County, Alabama.