The first few months after a school-based health clinic opened in January 2023 at Iola Elementary School, staff saw maybe one student per day.
By April, they were seeing about five on a daily basis.
Fast forward to November — a short month because of the Thanksgiving holiday — and the staff treated 164 students, an average of more than eight each day and about 20% of the student body.
Sara Clift, physician assistant, and Heather Weast, health assistant, have been with the clinic since it opened. Almost a year later, they’re pleased to see how the program has grown.
“It’s been fantastic. I think it’s been a very positive thing for our community,” Clift said.
It’s clear that positive news is spreading about the benefits offered by the health clinic, as more students, staff and their families use the program.
Some families, though, are skeptical.
Luanne Granere was one of them.
During enrollment in August, the clinic staff asked her to fill out paperwork that would allow her children to be seen if needed. She declined. She worried her child would repeatedly ask to be seen for reasons she couldn’t control, bypassing her family’s physician and resulting in tests her child didn’t need and bills she couldn’t afford.
When Granere went behind the scenes, she learned her fears were ill-founded.
In September, Granere was hired by Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas to serve as the clinic’s nurse. CHC/SEK offers the program through a grant.
It’s been an eye-opening experience.
“I wish I could talk to everyone who had the same thoughts I had,” she said.
For starters, allowing your child to be seen at the school’s clinic “is not blanket consent. Before anything happens, we (staff) are calling parents. Before any tests are done, before any medications are administered, we’re calling parents. Seven-year-olds aren’t the best historians, so even if they come in and say ‘I have a headache but Mom gave me ibuprofen at 7:30,’ we’re going to call Mom and verify before we give them anything else.”
As for the cost of going to the clinic, there isn’t one.
For those who have health insurance, visits are billed to their insurance companies but no co-pays are expected.
“It’s a full clinic,” Granere realized. “It’s like going to a doctor’s office, but I don’t think a lot of people know that.”
Students and staff can visit the clinic for a variety of health care needs: wellness checks; immunizations; sports physicals; tests for flu, COVID, strep and other conditions; chronic illness management and other types of routine health care. They also offer telehealth services in conjunction with Iola Middle and High schools, so those students don’t have to travel to IES.
For example, if a student has an ear infection, staff will check the patient and communicate with the parent and primary care provider without the parents having to leave work and without the child missing school.
