Medical Services
The Health Unit at Adobe Mountain School is staffed by onsite healthcare professionals 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. All youth receive comprehensive healthcare through onsite services provided by healthcare professionals, as well as offsite care when needed. Medications are provided to youth as prescribed by ADJC medical or psychiatric providers, and are administered by nursing staff.
Upon commitment to the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections (ADJC), an intake receiving screening is performed by a nurse on the day of arrival. A review of prior medical records and vaccination records is done. In addition, vision and hearing screenings are performed.
A health assessment is performed by a medical provider and medications are continued as clinically appropriate. Screening lab tests are ordered based on national guidelines. Psychiatric providers evaluate and treat youth who require psychiatric services, either as a continuation of care from the community, or based on a referral.
All youth at Adobe Mountain School are offered comprehensive dental services, including x-rays, a dental examination, and dental cleaning. Fillings, extractions, and specialized dental services are offered when necessary. Wisdom tooth extractions are performed when an urgent condition exists.
In order to access routine healthcare services, youth are advised to submit Health Care Requests (HCRs), which are collected and triaged daily by nursing staff. Youth are seen for clinical needs within 24 hours for medical, dental, and mental health concerns. If an emergency condition occurs, youth are assessed immediately and sent to a higher level of care, if needed.
At the ADJC, a multi-disciplinary team provides healthcare services to the youth population. Meetings and daily collaboration between professionals from the medical, psychiatric, clinical services, and security teams take place to ensure that comprehensive services are provided to the patients. Examples include regularly scheduled meetings between psychiatric providers and counselors to optimize mental health treatment for patients. Another example is the collaboration between healthcare staff and teachers to address learning issues that may benefit from treatment with medications.
When a youth is preparing to leave Adobe Mountain School, close coordination between ADJC healthcare staff and a variety of internal and external stakeholders is essential to ensure that continuity of care takes place with service providers in the community. This entails working with parents/guardians and community partners to arrange for medication continuity and appointments in the community after a youth is released from custody.
CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES
Clinical Practice Guidelines related to services concerning our patient population may be accessed through the following links below:
