Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Work Continues On Prairie Grove Wellness Clinic
PRAIRIE GROVE —The opening date for a new school based health clinic at Prairie Grove Intermediate School has been delayed twice but school officials now believe the clinic will be ready shortly after the start of the new school year.
The school’s front office was moved to a different area in the building and the new Prairie Grove Health and Wellness Clinic will be located in the former office space. Each area will have its own separate entrance from the front of the school building.
At first, the district had thought the clinic would open in January. Its opening then was delayed until May and then moved to the end of the summer. Officials contribute the holdup to several factors.
For one, it took longer to remodel the space for the new school office, said Allen Williams, school superintendent.
“When we move d , we needed to be up and running,” Williams said. “Beyond that, I couldn’t tell you why it’s taken longer. It’s inside so we didn’t have to deal with weather.”
Carmel Perry, director of the district’s Coordinated School Health program, said the project was delayed while the school waited to receive approval from the Arkansas Department of Education. Also, the new clinic was part of a bigger school construction project and that affected the work schedule, she said.
While Perry is impatient for the clinic to open, she’s excited about the services it will offer to school children and the community.
The school-based health clinic is made possible through a $ 530,000 grant from the Arkansas Department of Education. The district will receive the money over a five- year period for construction, equipment, training and support staff. The district is in the second year of the grant. By the end of the fifth year, the clinic is expected to be self-sustaining.
Prairie Grove has signed an agreement with Community Clinic, a healthcare ministry of St. Francis House NWA, to run the office. The clinic will have a full-time advanced practice nurse and full-time social worker. Community Clinic will accept insurance and will charge a fee based on a sliding scale for those who do not have insurance. Medical services at the clinic will be available to school children and the public.
Other services at the clinic will be provided by dentist Dr. Brad Green of Prairie Grove and optometrist Dr. Jonathan Shaver of Rogers. Green and Shaver will be at the clinic two days each month for dental and vision screenings and preventative care for school children.
The 2,000- square- foot clinic will have a large waiting area for patients, with separate rooms for vision and dental screenings. It will have two medical exam rooms, an office for the advanced practice nurse, a bathroom adjacent to a lab and a mental health therapy room.
Perry said students will be able to access the clinic without going through the waiting room.
The clinic will benefit the school district, Williams said.
“I think the whole thing is that it will make it easier for parents to get kids to a doctor,” Williams said. “Kids will have the ability to go right here at the clinic. Hopefully, it will result in increased attendance and wellness in the kids and that will translate to better student achievement.”