Aurora Expanding School-Based Clinic Program (CO)
September 20, 2010
After two years of serving students’ medical needs through a school-based clinic, Aurora Public Schools has decided the need is great enough to open a second clinic in October.
Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics operates the clinic at Crawford Elementary in Aurora, and has seen the number of patients who use it double from 1,000 in 2008 to 2,000 in 2009. The new clinic will be at Laredo Elementary.
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Larry Wolk, executive director of Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics, expects the second clinic will see at least 1,000 students a year.
"We know there are children who miss a lot of school because they have some conditions that are not taken care of," said Mary Beth Rensberger, director of health services at Aurora Public Schools.
"When we can get kids down the hall to a same-day appointment rather than waiting weeks sometimes," she said, "it helps get them back to school sooner."
Denver Health operates 12 similar school-based clinics at Denver Public Schools.
Marisol Vizcaya, an Aurora mom of two, said she’s glad the clinic program is expanding.
"They were very professional, and I really like the way they talk to kids," she said.
Her daughter is enrolled at another Aurora school, and her son, Gael Fierro, 3, has had stomach problems since birth.
Gael has now begun seeing a specialist for the first time this year after getting an immediate referral from the staff at the Crawford Elementary clinic.
Vizcaya said that before finding the clinic at the school, she had struggled to find a doctor who would see Gael because he’d lost his eligibility for Medicaid and had not yet received approval from CHP Plus.
At the Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics, children from the community are not turned away for inability to pay or lack of insurance, Wolk said, adding that the majority do have Medicaid or CHP Plus.
Wolk said the need for the clinic doesn’t stem sole ly from lack of health care, however.
"It serves a social need too. It’s more convenient than making them come all the way to a hospital," Wolk said.
Wolk founded the nonprofit with the vision of helping children who need health care, but don’t have it readily accessible.
Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics has operated school-based clinics across Colorado since 1996 in areas such as Montrose, Fort Collins and Fountain. It has turned over many of those clinics to local organizations or doctors. No such plans exist for the Aurora clinics.
The clinic model is more sustainable if the people who run it also live in the community, Wolk said. The company operates three traditional clinics in Thorton, Aurora and Denver offices. "We have our three clinics here, so we feel we can provide a lot more services here," he said.
Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics also operates two mobile clinics — one dental and one medical — donated by the Ronald McDonald Foundation.
The mobile clinics rotate among Aurora and Denver public schools. Later this year, a third mobile clinic will be opened, offering dental and medical services; it will serve Aurora and Denver, as well as rural districts.
In January, Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics will also open Colorado’s first "Grow Clinic" at its Thornton office.
The "Grow Clinic," copied from a Boston model, will address the needs of children who are malnourished, over- weight or underweight. Parents will receive "pantry prescriptions" for healthy food, which they can then fill at the clinic’s food bank, also at the Thornton facility.
Wolk said Rocky Mountain Youth Clinic staff have become "experts at serving pediatric populations in need," and part of knowing how to serve those populations is going beyond clinic visits. The "Grow Clinic" and events such as bicycle-helmet giveaways are a few examples.
Aurora district health-services director Rensberger said community members have noticed and support the clinics.
"It has been a very positive phenomenon," she said.
Read more: Aurora expanding school-based clinic program – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16114138#ixzz104x9YyUV