New Health Center Provides Expanded Care To Lakewood Students

LAKEWOOD, OH — The Cleveland Clinic and Lakewood Schools have struck a partnership and created the new Cleveland Clinic Children's School-Based Health Center. The facility, located at Lakewood High School, will be staffed by a physician's assistant or nurse and will provide more advanced medical services to students in need.

The 2017-2018 school year will serve as the pilot program for the health center. The Cleveland Clinic's mobile unit, which has been travelling to schools throughout the district two days a week, will continue to visit all schools except Lakewood High.

Lakewood High School will maintain its own clinic for students to visit free-of-charge during the school day. If a student complains of a stomach ache, that issue will still be dealt with by the LHS clinic. However, if a student complains of a sore throat, for example, and strep is suspected, that student could be sent to the Clinic's School-Based Health Center. Parents will need to give permission before any student is sent to the health center.

The new health clinic will be housed across from the on-site administrative offices in the west wing of the high school. Visitors to the health clinic will need to be buzzed into that portion of the building and will be segregated from the rest of the school by another set of locked doors.

The in-school health clinic is the first facility of its kind for the Cleveland Clinic. (Subscribe to the Patch Lakewood newsletter for local news and updates.)

"We're very excited about it," said Loree Rudd, RN, clinical program manager of Cleveland Clinic Children’s School-Based Healthcare program.

When the new program was announced, some members of the community worried that it would incentivize parents sending sick students to school. However, the health center is segregated from the main high school and students suspected of being contagious will still be sent home. Parents will simply have the ability to sign-off on their student being sent to the new health center to expedite things.

Lisa Bruening, student services director for Lakewood Schools, told Patch the health center could be invaluable for families that need access to some basic services. Each year, she said, like any district in the nation, there are a number of students that arrive at school without necessary immunizations.

"Our hope would be for students to go right there [for immunization]," said Bruening. "I see this evolving to include families that need it. We’d be able to offer them a choice. We’d let them know of all the other services in the area. For some families though, schools offer a comfortable, familiar situation."

Mental Health

Another facet of the new Health Center is a renewed focus on mental health programs for teenagers. The district already partners with GuideStone and Bellefaire to provide counselors and support groups for students.

The partnership with the Cleveland Clinic will mean a psychologist will be on-site for a few hours each week, exclusively seeing Lakewood students.

The Clinic will also help organize support groups for students dealing with various conditions. Bruening and Rudd both referenced possible groups for students with depression and anxiety, but also physical conditions like diabetes.

Rudd said the groups could expand into classes for various conditions. For example, a support group for students with diabetes could evolve to include cooking classes and other educational lessons.

As the pilot-program evolves, the health center will look to expand services to all schools in the district. Students at, say, Garfield will be able to make an appointment and head over to the high school for acute medical care.

Photo from Rick Uldricks, Patch