Oct. 5, 2002 – The territory's first school-based health clinic is slated to open at the St. Croix Educational Complex in three months, thanks to a Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities grant awarded to Frederiksted Health Care Inc.
The grant gives FHC $150,000 for the first six months and will be increased to $300,000 by March 2003. It will be awarded annually for three years.
The health care facility will serve the 1,300 Educational Complex high school students during its first year of operations.
The center is scheduled to open in December with a reception lobby, two doctor offices, a counseling room, an examination room and restrooms.
Vivian Ebbessen-Fludd, executive director of FHC, said she approached the school's administration and the Department of Education with the proposal. They were thrilled to have an asset to address the population's need for health services, she said.
"This idea came about when we surveyed students and parents and found that families lacked a primary care physician," she said. "They tend to use the emergency room for that purpose."
Ebbessen-Fludd said the school-based clinic will offer an alternative to students missing classes. "We will be a bit more flexible to accommodate them, but parental consent is required," she said.
Educational Complex Principal Kurt Vialet said, "For the last four years we have operated without a nurse. This naturally fills that void."
There are 11 public schools with approximately 7,000 students between Kingshill and Frederiksted, but only four staff nurses are available. The school-based center will extend health services out to other schools and their families by appointment in the next two phases, Ebbessen-Fludd said.
St. Croix operates clinics at Charles Harwood in Christiansted and Ingeborg Nesbitt in Frederiksted, and Ebbessen-Fludd said those operations will continue.
The center will offer immunizations, interscholastic physicals, preventative health, diagnosis and treatment, Ebbessen-Fludd said. Clinic hours will operate a half-hour before school and an hour after school, with hours from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The staff, including a nurse practitioner, two registered nurses, two certified nurses, a physician and a full-time mental health professional, will be considered a part of the school staff and will participate in school activities, she said. The Health Department is providing the supplies and staff to modify the facility on the east wing of the campus.
Dental services will be provided by the Health Services Department at the Vocational School on the west end of the campus.
"We will use this as a hallmark that we can collaborate together on health outreach projects," Ebbessen-Fludd said.
She said that this year the clinic will focus on school-required physicals for athletes and college-bound seniors.
Educational Complex parents are asked to provide copies of their child's immunization records to the school office so that plans can be established to administer vaccines.
A technical review team from the mainland will be on-island Nov. 6 and 7. The Health Resources Services Administration will assess the site.
"We must provide the consultants with job descriptions and a proposed staffing list," Ebbessen-Fludd said. "Individuals will not be removed from the clinics. Permanent staff will be hired here."
Vialet said, "This will also show the Middle States accreditation team that we are providing more." One of the 12 standards to be met for accreditation is health and safety.
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