Rocket Wellness Center

The SGASD Rocket Wellness Center, in partnership with Everside Health, is a space that offers advanced primary care to meet the physical and mental health needs of district staff and family members. 

The Rocket Wellness Center represents a tremendous opportunity to improve the general health of our community through easier access to care that will be free or low cost for the employee and spend fewer taxpayer dollars, thus giving us more money to dedicate to student education, and to help children with social and emotional learning losses from the pandemic. 

Teacher health and wellness have an impact not only on educators as individuals but also on the overall well-being of the young minds they educate. Teacher wellness has been related to consistency and steadiness in schools, teaching effectiveness, and student achievement. The Rocket Wellness Center will provide an effective means of access to high-quality care, a boost to productivity, and a benefit for recruiting and retention efforts. 

Additionally, given the staffing challenges, offering healthcare services and support to typically non-eligible staff will help the district secure part-time and substitute staff by extending access to the Center to them. Through this program, we expect a greater commitment from temporary staff to serve our needs by making them eligible for health services at the Center. 

More recently, the prospect of teacher shortages is driving a renewed focus on enhancing employee benefits and experiences for our staff. We have the goal of being an employer of choice in the education field. The last 2+ years have been stressful for staff. In the past, our strong benefits offering was attractive to our employees, but with salaries around the country rising, coupled with the challenges to access mental and physical healthcare, opening the Rocket Wellness Center will allow us to attract and retain the talent we need, meet our goal of offering superior access to care, and assist us in managing future healthcare cost inflation. 

The District was a recipient of a $50,000 grant award for the Rocket Wellness Center from the York County Community Foundation (YCCF) Memorial Health Fund! The Memorial Health Fund Grant seeks to transform how our community addresses compelling health issues by funding programs that improve the complete physical, mental, and social well-being of the residents of York County.