Eye exams. Menstrual products. Critical training for school social workers. These are the current priorities for the FPPS Healthcare Access Fund. Your donation makes a difference in addressing the emotional, mental, and physical health concerns that can keep our students from fully accessing their education.  

Vision Care
Although most Portland students have MaineCare with vision coverage, few local optometrists accept it. Those that do have very limited MaineCare appointments available. FPPS hopes to hire a mobile vision care provider who could clear the backlog of needed eye exams in just a few days. You can help make this possible! Please donate so that eyecare professionals can provide eye tests and prescribe glasses to a couple of hundred students who otherwise face significant impediments to their education. 

Menstruation Supplies
Many students in our schools seek period supplies from school nurses. Lizzie Nalli, the Deering High School nurse, receives approximately 25 requests daily. We also know that some students choose to stay home rather than face the challenge of asking!  $3,500 will fund a one-year pilot to provide no-cost pad dispensers in the Deering High School bathrooms, reducing the inconvenience, embarrassment, and absenteeism associated with period stigma. With the data from this program, our goal is to ensure that funding for menstrual supplies can be covered in future school budgets.

Social Worker Professional Development
School social workers and nurses work on the frontline with our students, who face increasingly complex physical and behavioral challenges, such as self-harm, eating disorders, and trauma.  Additional, specialized training will assist social workers in better addressing these challenges by helping students learn the emotional and social skills they need for balance in and out of school.