South Queens, NY - Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-South Queens) commended the opening of the first school-based health center in a non-public school. The health center, run by Premium Health and located at Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway, provides mental health evaluations and services as well as primary care to the 2,700 students at the yeshiva. During the dedication ceremony, Pheffer Amato received an award recognizing her successful advocacy and was cited as the as the driving factor for getting this facility through all the red tape with the State Department of Health, along all other agencies involved in this project.

Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato emphasized how there are many important benefits to having the center on-campus, and how this will work to remove the stigma around mental health needs, while also streamlining the process to obtain support. “This is a tremendous occasion that I am honored to have helped shepherd into existence. The amazing health services that the students of Yeshiva Darchei Torah will be eligible to receive matches that of the amazing education they get every day. This is a resource for students and the families!I applaud Rabbi Bender for his vision and the entire school community for coming together. I am so happy to see this dream come to fruition.”