AU/UGA Partnership to launch health center at Clarke Middle School

The Augusta University/University of Ga Health care Partnership has expanded its access by opening a new faculty-primarily based wellness clinic at Clarke Middle School in Athens.

“The cell clinic has served boost obtain to wellness care for many CCSD students,” mentioned Amy Roark, Clarke County University District’s director of nursing. “We are energized to start this present partnership to a new level of offering dependable, day-to-day entry to health and wellness providers.”

The partnership already manages a health facility at Hilsman Center College, which is operated by the Athens Community Well being Center.

“CCSD’s objective is to increase accessibility to health and fitness and wellness services for our pupils and workers,” Roark mentioned. “The Hilsman Overall health Center has served as a great resource for students and team on the east side, and we feel that opening a 2nd clinic, much more convenient to central and west-facet schools, will additional maximize accessibility for additional learners.”

Clinical Partnership instructors and college students have vaccinated in excess of 1,650 university district kids, staff members, guardians, and staff by way of immunization clinics. The Office of General public Wellness, the Athens-Clarke County federal government, ACC local community leaders, Foothills Constitution Superior College, Athens Community Council on Growing older, Potter’s Dwelling, Columbia Brookside and Bethel Village are among the the institutions and groups with whom they have collaborated. The mobile clinic observed 900 sufferers for a complete of $210,000 from March 2018 to Dec. 2021.

This impending clinic will run in a non permanent site this slide when the college builds its everlasting facility, which is expected to be done in 2024.

All through the pilot section, the overall health facility will serve Clarke Middle University and Alps Road Elementary School students, household and staff members. Preventive wellbeing care, acute and chronic overall health treatment, psychological wellness counseling, and referrals to legal, social get the job done, and other help providers will all be delivered totally free of demand.

Soon after the pilot, it will transition to a absolutely free-to-sliding-scale product to support include the expenditures of products and services, materials and service growth, related to the cell clinic, which will be open up to all CCSD citizens.

Clinical personnel, as well as Professional medical Partnership academics, college students, and volunteer physicians will supply healthcare products and services in collaboration with CCSD nurses and the Georgia Office of General public Health’s Northeast Overall health District 10.

“Keeping college students and staff healthy is our best precedence,” reported Lawrence Harris, CCSD’s chief of neighborhood engagements and strategic partnerships.

As a result of the facility, the ASPIRE Clinic and La Clinica in LaK’ech, a multilingual clinic, will deliver collaborative assist solutions.

“A faculty-based mostly wellness clinic lets us to deliver health care products and services on-internet site, cutting down college students missing instructional time. Moreover, this lowers the strain of other health treatment suppliers as we are capable to divert some of the medical requirements to be solved on-internet site relatively than filling their healthcare places of work and waiting rooms. This partnership also will ideally minimize hesitancy in the upcoming for pupils accessing health care care when they are adults, as there does exist a social and cultural aversion for some,” Harris stated.