Clinic Pulls Out Of Lincoln Center

Community Clinic has pulled out as the health provider for Lincoln’s Wellness Center and the school district is in the process of trying to find a new provider, according to Mary Ann Spears, superintendent of Lincoln Consolidated School District.

For now the school’s clinic is closed. Spears said she is talking to two different providers and hopes to be able to negotiate with one of them to provide heathcare service at the Wellness Center, located on Lincoln Middle School campus.

Spears said Community Clinic’s decision to leave was unexpected.

“They called me the last day of July and said ‘we’re closing,’” Spears said. “I made them give me notice and close at the end of August.”

Kathy Grisham, Community Clinic chief executive officer, said Community Clinic operated five days a week at first in Lincoln and reduced hours last year to 2 1/2 days per week to see if it would help financially. Clinic staff worked part-time in Lincoln and part-time at the Prairie Grove Health and Wellness Center, located at Prairie Grove Elementary School.

“It really didn’t change very much,” Grisham said. “The numbers did not increase very much.”

She said the company made the decision to leave Lincoln and go back to five days a week in Prairie Grove.

“We really regretted it but it was a long time coming,” Grisham said.

Lincoln started its move toward educating the whole child years ago when it moved one of its teachers into a new position called district health coordinator. In 2010, the district received a three-year grant to fund a student wellness center.

The wellness clinic opened in March 2011 in a small house adjacent to the elementary school’s playground.

At the time, Lincoln was praised by officials at Arkansas Department of Education for being in the forefront of looking out for the health and welfare of its students.

The center moved to its current location on the middle school campus and Community Clinic took over as healthcare provider. The center was open to students but also open to the public.

Community Clinic is a healthcare ministry of St. Francis House NWA. It is one of the region’s largest providers of low-cost healthcare and has six school-based clinics in Northwest Arkansas, in addition to other offices.