For athletes at practices and games and students who need medical attention during the school day, some fairly major changes are in the works, but two familiar faces will stay the same.

“Cathedral High School is proud to announce our new school health partnership with Community Health Network. Community Health Network is one of central Indiana’s largest healthcare systems with more than 200 sites of care,” Principal Mr. Dave Worland wrote in an email.

“The overarching direction of this shift is based on the more we can connect with our professionals in central Indiana, the better our environment will be,” he said. Worland stressed the importance of connecting with a hospital of the administration’s choice. Being a multi-faceted health network, Community boasts doctors, nurses and trainers. “Cathedral is outstanding with anything and everything related to education, counseling, and administration; if we can get a hospital to aid with the health and wellness, we as a school are spot on. Now we can employ a big hospital to advise us and help supervise in those fields,” he said.

Current positions in the field of wellness and athletic training would have a supervisor from Community. “In many cases, they would be employed by Community, whereas of now they are currently a Cathedral employee,” he said. Positions such as athletic trainer and strength and weight conditioning coach will not be assumed by Community. Mr. Mike Hunker and Mr. Cody Johnson return for the 2018 school year, as confirmed by Worland. “As far as salaries and benefits, we don’t want them to take a cut in pay,” he said.

Starting with the school year in August, Community will provide school nursing, sports medicine and behavioral health services for students. “With our upcoming spring registrations for athletics and the 2018-2019 school registration process, you will begin to see paperwork and consents from Community Health Network,” Worland wrote.

Cathedral will not have a full-time doctor, though. “We’ve had that in the past, prior to this shift,” he said, “but he or she will come as needed.” These two trainers from Community will work for Cathedral. One trainer will be available during the school day and the other will attend after-school and athletic events. Worland noted both could be present throughout any given day.

Originating in 2011, Community has provided a plethora of school health partnerships throughout Indiana and currently makes it services available to more than 195,000 students. These specific alliances are customized to meet needs of each school and community they serve.

Worland the process of securing Community’s services was a public one. “We put this position out for bid,” he said. Community Health was most open to meet the needs expressed in the sponsorship. “There’s a lot of negotiation between services and personnel. We could pick and choose who we felt suited our needs more. Community presented the best package to help students and Cathedral, giving us an advantage to our current standing,” he said.

Community Health Network “will need to present a staff meeting these Holy Cross core values. These values are our environment. Community has bought in, so far. They are aware of Cathedral’s mission and have agreed to nurture this environment,” he said.

Worland said he is a firm believer in Community positively impacting the health and wellness of students and families at Cathedral High School.

The official sponsorship begins July 1, the start of the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Community Health Network will present personnel for the school and the school will conduct interviews until its criteria are met.