(RALEIGH) -- There are 53 school-based health centers in North Carolina.  Wake County is home to the largest school district in the state, and yet not one of the 53 school-based health centers operates within. A group of teens called Action Now! is looking to change that. Parrish Ravelli of the Wake County-based Youth Empowered Solutions says it's important to increase access to health care for young people, regardless of how bad the economy is.

Physical and emotional health are essential to learning in schools. Action Now! are using National School-Based Health Care Awareness Month to highlight the need to keep students physically and emotionally healthy. There are roughly 16-thousand uninsured students in Wake County schools, and officials are concerned that a new reassignment plan might mean that a disproportionate number of them could wind up in one or two schools. Jenny Palmer of Wake Teen Medical Services says school-based health centers are proven to decrease school absenteeism and increase graduation rates. Service Program Director Parrish Ravelli says school health centers can not only help keep kids in school, but dramatically help to save the state money.

Earlier this week, members of Youth Empowered Solutions hosted a tour with Wake County School board member John Tedesco.