01/31/2012

School clinic to serve families with kids in need
Fast access to care at north-side elementary can help avoid waits, missed class time
Argus Leader features Judy Kendall of Falls Community Health

A $500,000 federal grant will build a public health clinic at Hayward Elementary School to help low-income families whose children would otherwise be unable to see a doctor. Construction will begin in June at Hayward, at 400 N. Valley View, with the clinic to open by February 2013. The clinic will attach to the Maricar Community Center, which connects to Hayward to serve northwest Sioux Falls neighborhoods. Children at the school, with clearance from the main office, will be able to walk down the hallway to receive care rather than wait for parents to arrive.

** Hawthorne Elementary had a total of 372 visits in calendar 2010. That included 189 nurse practitioner visits for sore throats, ear infections, mental health issues, flu, physicals and attention disorders, and 183 nurse visits for flu shots and other needs. ** Terry Redlin Elementary had 453 total visits, including 228 to the nurse practitioner and 225 to the school nurse. ** Hayward will be the third Sioux Falls elementary school with a clinic, a $500,000 building project with doors to open in February 2013. Source: Sioux Falls School District and city health department.

"This reduces the time children miss school and parents miss work," said Molly Satter, health services supervisor for the Sioux Falls School District.

The clinic also will serve people from the neighborhood using a separate entrance.

The school district and city health department are partners in the project. Hayward will be the city's third public elementary school, along with Hawthorne and Terry Redlin, in a network of satellite locations under the Falls Community Health, a public clinic downtown.

The intent is to help children receive prompt attention and get back to class, often in situations where parents would be unable to get off work to assist them.

"The less the student has to be out of school, the less it interrupts their education," said Judy Kendall, clinical services manager at Falls Community.

The clinics are growing more complex. The Hawthorne facility opened in 2008 inside the school at 601 N. Spring Ave. for students entering from an inside hallway. The Terry Redlin clinic opened in 2010 at 1721 E. Austin St. with both interior and exterior entrances to allow service also to the general public. Hayward will have both interior and exterior access and will have two dental chairs. Hawthorne and Terry Redlin offer oral hygiene two days a month using portable equipment, but dental service will be permanent at Hayward.

In a separate but similar program, Avera Health opened a clinic in 2008 inside Washington High School and has expanded since to serve Whittier Middle School and Joe Foss Alternative School.

Families at the three elementary schools are among the highest concentration of local residents eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. That's an indicator of low-income families in transition, parents working multiple jobs and health care becoming a lesser priority. Kendall said a survey found that 157 of 676 Hayward children had no health-care provider.

"Families do live on the edge," Kendall said.

Hayward will resemble the Terry Redlin clinic, which is open half-days rotating mornings and afternoons. Terry Redlin had 11 patients Monday afternoon, two of them students and the other nine from outside.

Paulette Fast Horse, 39, rode the bus from her home near Eighteenth Street and Cleveland Avenue. She is an unemployed single mother of two, daughter Saba, 15, a freshman at Washington, and son Solomon, 14, an eighth-grader at Whittier. She last worked as a Salvation Army bell ringer and is looking for work as a cook through Job Service. She comes to the clinic twice a year. "It's closer to where we live," she said. She was hoping on Monday to receive clearance for a higher dose of medication she's needed since gall bladder surgery.

Examining her was Robin Arends, a certified nurse practitioner who is on staff at South Dakota State University and under contract at the clinic. Assisting her were registered nurse Amy Berke and patient support technician Dawn Wynthein, both city employees.

Fees depend on income. Fast Horse is on Medicaid and paid nothing. A family of four earning $22,350 a year would pay a $15 copay. Families earning more pay more.

Students with a referral from the school nurse can go straight to the clinic if parents have signed a waiver. Families are responsible to pick up medications on their own later but a midday exam can save hours, Arends said.

"If it's strep throat, we can see them and get antibiotics started in a more timely manner. And if it's a fever, we can catch it early and not be exposing other children," she said.

Argus Leader - John Walker