2022 Back to School Drive

"We integrate education, health care, and family support services and build family well-being throughout a child’s development.

We know that there are many reasons why children come to school not ready to learn: children may have experienced trauma; they may be entering school already behind in language and cognitive development; or they may face physical or mental health barriers that make it difficult to concentrate. We not only account for these barriers to learning, but actively work with families and children to overcome them."

In 2016, a group of pediatricians and other health professionals from the Stanford Pediatric Advocacy Program, Fair Oaks Health Center, Gardner Packard Children’s Health Center, Mayview Community Health Center, and Ravenswood Family Health Center created iMPACt: the Mid-peninsula Pediatric Advocacy Coalition, to address the social determinants of health affecting the children and families in this area in a joint, coordinated way. Past coalition projects have focused on family poverty, early education, and mental health. iMPACt also puts together food and educational resource guides for families yearly. 

"For more than two decades, the Stanford Children’s Health Teen Van has been a vital resource for underserved youth across the Bay Area. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has stepped up in an even bigger way—providing testing, food and supplies for local families, many of whom live in communities hit hardest by the virus.

Launched in 1996 by Seth Ammerman, MD, the Teen Van was one of the first mobile clinics in the nation specifically created to provide care free of charge for uninsured or homeless youth. Today, the Van is run by Arash Anoshiravani, MD, who once completed an adolescent medicine fellowship under now-retired Ammerman, along with a nurse practitioner, a social worker, a dietician, and a registrar/driver. The Van travels to nine sites across Santa Clara and San Mateo County, including local high schools and youth centers, providing no-cost vaccines, mental health care, contraceptives, physical exams, nutritional counseling and more to patients ages 10 to 25. Since its inception, there have been more than 15,000 visits to the Teen Van, with more than 4,500 unique patients served, about 40 percent of whom are homeless or have been homeless in the past year."