Anita Biles, SBHC coordinator, said that having a clinic at the school or in the district can increase attendance, and future services in conjunction with current services will help parents a lot.
“I don’t know how you put a cost savings on that, but that is something we talked about when we opened the health center, which is, the least amount of time a parent or guardian needs to leave their job in order for their kid to get services ... obviously that’s just this building, but our goal is that at some point, we’ll be able to support that with other buildings,” Biles said.
The clinic can serve as a patient’s first connection to Rocking Horse, where they can receive primary care, Ambrosio said. Students and their families can get care at the location most convenient to them.
Students have come in for well-child visits to establish care, therapy appointments, vaccinations and more, Ambrosio said. With flu season approaching, the clinic will be a convenient place for flu shots, but it’s also a good place to get students up-to-date with other necessary vaccinations.
When a student has an appointment or the school nurse determines they should visit the health center, they receive a hall pass that looks identical to passes for other purposes, which maintains privacy, and then they come in through a secure entrance only accessible through the school, Biles said.
The school was awarded $1 million by the state of Ohio through the Mental Health Recovery Board of Clark, Greene & Madison counties, and previously received a $250,000 Community Development Block Grant from the city to fund the design services phase of the project. Rocking Horse also received a $350,000 grant to help open the center.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
All 7,700 Springfield City Schools students in the district’s 17 buildings from preschool to 12th grade can use the clinic if they get parental consent. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, the health center will accept all patients regardless of their ability to pay.
The health center has four exam rooms and three additional rooms for mental health treatment to provide primary care, vaccinations, health screenings and individual and group mental health counseling.
The SBHC has access to two-way interpretation devices — which Rocking Horse has purchased for its main facility too — when checking patients in, and uses phone or in-person interpreters for appointments.
Biles said that the SBHC expects to have vision services by the end of the year, which will entail comprehensive exams and glasses. A space is already set aside for the service and equipment will soon be ordered.
Dental care is expected to come in the next two to three years, but this service is a little more complicated to provide than others, Ambrosio said.
Biles said that she is in conversations with the high school’s Bringing Awareness to Students (BATS) prevention group on how to work together for better mental health care, which will include some peer-to-peer conversations that are more likely to encourage students to come than those with adults.
Access to therapy has been positive for students, and several have mentioned concerns about bomb threats recently, Ambrosio said.
Ambrosio said the health center addresses the health of the district’s families because it and Rocking Horse recognizes their importance.
“That’s what I love about the relationship, is like the school recognized that they needed kids to be healthy to keep them here in their seats and they do that in so many different ways, and Rocking Horse recognizes that if we can’t make sure that people are healthy if we’re not addressing all of these other things that impact their health,” Ambrosio said.
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