[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FylFDonpivc width=”450″]
Click above to play the video of the health clinic presentation from Tuesday’s school board meeting.
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, May 17, 2016, 7 p.m. (UPDATED May 18, 2016, 4:33 p.m., added video) — Beginning this fall, students in the Bardstown City Schools will have a staffed medical clinic available to them any time school is in session.
At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Bardstown Board of Education approved a partnership with Physicians To Children and Adolescents that will launch the Bardstown City Schools Medical Clinic when city schools resume in August.
The clinic will operate in the space that currently serves as the school nurse’s office in Bardstown Elementary School, Superintendent Brent Holsclaw told the board. The clinic will be staffed by a nurse practitioner who will be available to diagnose and treat students as needed.
One big benefit of the in-school health clinic is the convenience to working parents who may have to take time away from work to take their child to a doctor’s office.
Dr. Lindsay Blackmon, a pediatrician at Physicians to Children, told the board that a Physicians to Children nurse practitioner will work closely with the school nurse.
The school nurse will be the main contact person for students who need care. If the school nurse believes the student needs a higher level of care, the student will be referred to the in-school clinic.
The clinic can serve most of the district’s students, Blackmon said, with the exception of a couple of Medicaid providers. The use of the in-school clinic will be optional for parents, who can still take their children to their regular primary care doctor.
The clinic will be able to provide on site diagnosis, testing, including flu and strep tests, and treatment. Prescriptions — if necessary — can be transmitted directly to the family’s regular pharmacy.
Other services include school physicals, illness visits and treatment of minor injuries. The clinic will make every effort to contact a parent or guardian prior to a clinic visit, but their presence during the visit is not required.
The clinic will operate at no cost to the school system other than the cost to make some changes to the existing nurse’s office. The clinic will bill patients’ insurance for visit and treatment costs.
Holsclaw said the clinic will be a huge benefit for district parents and students. The on-site clinic will mean students can be diagnosed more quickly, less class time missed, and faster availability for physicals and immunizations.
The clinic will also be open to the siblings of district students who are also patients of Physicians to Children, and the children of district employes (up to age 22).
Holsclaw said the clinic idea wasn’t a new one. He credited work by Dr. Blackmon and the staff who were able to navigate past previous roadblocks and make the idea a reality.
“I want folks to know just how big this really is,” Holsclaw said of the new clinic. “This is s a huge opportunity for students, for parents, and for this community.”
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