Health and Wellness Initiative The Irvine Public Schools Foundation (IPSF) Health and Wellness Initiative creates mutually beneficial partnerships with Irvine’s medical community, local businesses and foundations, and the City of Irvine to provide an effective, sustainable public school health program for Irvine’s children and youth.

Program Description

The IPSF Health and Wellness Initiative exists to ensure that each child in every Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) school receives high quality health services, regardless of their health insurance status or ability to pay. Since 2005, IPSF has maintained the Health and Wellness Initiative as a high priority, to engage the community in these efforts so that all students can thrive and succeed in school. Currently, IPSF is committed to funding school nurses and athletic trainers for all schools. The health and safety needs of Irvine students have increased dramatically in recent years, while state funding for education, including health services, has not kept pace with increasing medical challenges and risks our students face. IUSD remains among the fastest-growing school districts in California, and continued growth brings increasing demands on school health services. While IUSD’s enrollment grew 7% in the past year, the percentage of students with identified special medical needs increased by 18%. Currently, over 13,000 students have specific health concerns which must be managed (along with the care of all students) by school nurses. IUSD projects that enrollment will grow from nearly 32,000 students currently enrolled to 40,000 by 2020. Support for school nursing remains an unduplicated mechanism for addressing the health-related challenges increasingly faced by students, and providing a strong health-risk prevention program district-wide. The provision of athletic trainers for IUSD’s athletic programs is critical. Athletic trainers serve a vital function in the prevention and treatment of injuries for all high school athletic programs. By funding programs via the public schools, IPSF and its partners ensure that all students receive consistent services, regardless of their family’s income or insurance status. Supervised by medical doctors from Hoag Orthopedic Institute, athletic trainers are the only medically qualified professionals in the school district who can provide these services.

Organizational Mission The Irvine Public Schools Foundation’s mission is to enrich the educational experience of each child in every school. We achieve this by providing programs, raising funds, and uniting the community in support of educational excellence.

Partnership with Hoag Hospital

Hoag Memorial Hospital has been an IPSF corporate partner since 2010, and has generously committed to match monetary donations to the Health and Wellness Initiative.

Partnership with City of Irvine Thanks to a generous Challenge Grant for Education by the City of Irvine, monetary donations to IPSF are matched 100%. A donation made to IPSF’s Health and Wellness Initiative, doubled by Hoag Hospital, will then be doubled again by the City, multiplying the benefit of Health and Wellness investments. Contact: President and CEO Neda Eaton, neaton@ipsf.net, 949-265-6406