Public can use medical clinics at 2 high schools

Residents of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach who need medical assistance soon will be able to visit an unlikely site for care: a local high school.

Boynton Beach High and Atlantic High in Delray Beach are about to become home to clinics sponsored by Genesis Community Health, which operates several Palm Beach County medical clinics for the needy.

Early next year, Genesis will open the clinics to students, and will expand their services to adults shortly afterward, said Eddie Ruiz, Palm Beach County schools assistant superintendent.

“We are creating a template for how this can work at a lot of different schools,” Ruiz said. “We hope one day this will spread throughout the county.”

The clinics, which are free to students, are scheduled to be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. when school is in session. They will be closed on weekends and when school is closed for summer and other breaks, according to the contract with the school district.

The clinics will bill Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance if adult patients are covered, and charge a sliding fee for the uninsured.

“No patient will ever be turned away,” said Dr. Johanna Albrecht, a Genesis pediatrician.

Every Palm Beach County public school has a nurse, supplied by the county’s health care district. The Genesis clinics will provide a second layer