Friday, July 11, 2025
A wellness center inside Baldwin High School was unveiled on June 3 to the community during a ribbon-cutting ceremony — the second such facility to open in the school district during the past year.
According to Baldwin School District Superintendent Shari Camhi, the new wellness center is six years in the making, offering the high school’s students medical, physical and behavioral health care services.
Housed inside the high school, the center comes about one year after district officials opened its first one at Baldwin Middle School, which focuses on emotional and academic wellness.
“This is six years and coming,” Camhi said of the new facility at the high school. “Baldwin knows how important our students’ wellness is. You have to be well to learn, and so being able to cut the ribbon at the high school wellness center and have it ready to open just feels so wonderful.”
The initiative aims to support students’ overall well-being and academic success by providing physical exams, “sick visits,” immunizations, mental health services, and more.
The latest wellness center is operated in collaboration with Harmony Healthcare Long Island. Baldwin is the fourth school district to partner with Harmony in opening a school-based health center.
“It takes a village to do the work we do,” David Nemiroff, CEO of Harmony Healthcare, said. “We’re here for our students, we’re here to make a healthier community.”
Licensed healthcare providers at the center work closely with the school to address a wide range of concerns affecting students’ healthy development. In partnership with school nurses, they offer expanded medical and behavioral health services during the school day.
Services are available at no cost to students’ families, regardless of medical insurance status. While insurance companies could be billed, no co-pays or bills are sent to families, and students can continue seeing their primary care providers without transferring care.
Attendees were invited to tour the new facility, which features two dedicated spaces — one for clinical medical care and the other for behavioral health services.
For making the opening of the wellness center possible, Camhi also recognized the Board of Education, construction and facilities staff, the high school’s building personnel, and the school’s PPS and nursing teams.
Mary Jo Hagen, speaking on behalf of the Baldwin Board of Education, called the wellness center a reflection of the community’s priorities.
“Public schools are truly the heart of any community,” she said. “This partnership enables us to offer access to medical services to students who might otherwise not have them.”
Assemblywoman Judy Griffin, who attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony, helped secure $500,000 in funding in 2022 to support wellness initiatives and said she was glad to see the results in action.
“It’s been proven over time how vital wellness centers in schools are — not just for mental health, but also because some families can’t always get their kids to a doctor,” Griffin said. “Every time I come to Baldwin, I’m impressed.”
