Michele Wilmoth
School-Based Health Services is celebrating nurse practitioner Allison Lantz and the department’s director, Michele Wilmoth, on their recent G.R.I.T. awards. Alison received the 2024 G.R.I.T. Provider Award and Michele the School Administrator Award by the Ohio School-Based Health Alliance, recognizing their genuine, resilient, innovative and tenacious contributions to school-based health care.
Since 2013, Michele has led Akron Children’s School-Based Health Services. Under her leadership, the program’s nursing-driven partnerships have expanded to 43 school districts across 10 counties in Eastern Ohio, serving more than 90,000 students. As one of the few hospital-based school-nursing programs in the country, Akron Children’s collaborates with schools to demonstrate the positive impact of community partnerships on child health outcomes.
Michele is a licensed, nationally certified school nurse who understands the critical role school-nursing staff play as trusted entry points into the health care system for students and families. Her ingenuity and tenacity have transformed Akron Children’s more than 250 school-health nurses from traditional acute-care providers to health-equity advocates. Since 2022, she has launched 15 embedded School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) by securing approximately $6 million in public funding, which is dedicated to serving students and families in their schools and communities.
“This award is a testament to the collective efforts of our dedicated team, whose commitment to equitable and accessible student health and well-being is unwavering,” said Michele. “By prioritizing health in our schools, we are not only nurturing our students’ physical and mental well-being but also laying the foundation for academic and personal success. Together with our school partners, we are creating a healthy future for all.”
Allison Lantz
Allison Lantz, who works as a nurse practitioner for Warren City Schools, said winning the G.R.I.T. award as a provider is an accomplishment for her entire team.
“Starting a SBHC has been a dream of mine and getting to be part of the initiative here at Akron Children’s to serve kids in their community and school is a privilege,” she said. “To quote Gregory Boyle (2024 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient), ‘The measure of our compassion lies not in our service of those on the margins, but only in our willingness to see ourselves in kinship with them,’ and that is what I strive to keep at the heart of everything I do.”
Allison’s work in the SBHC extends beyond seeing patients. She started a Youth Advisory Council at the high school and piloted a school-based asthma treatment program.
“The most important thing I did was build relationships with staff, students, families and the community as a whole,” she said. “I look forward to the expanding work of Akron Children’s SBHCs in Ohio and how that work will have a positive impact on our communities.”
Both women will be recognized at the at the 2024 National School-Based Health Care Conference in Washington, D.C., held at the end of June.
